The End of Eternity: Rise of the Terran Alliance
by Icarus636
Summary: No Gods, No Kings REWRITTEN: Through intervention the dream of Rapture never became a nightmare, instead new technologies and beliefs pave the way for Humanity to unite as one and seek a new future among the stars. The Council finds itself confronting a civilization that has surpassed every technological shackle and overcame every obstacle thrown their way: The Terran Alliance.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: the second rebirth**

**Hello, I have reached an impasse with my story No gods, no kings, terra aeternum; several plot holes; poorly develop layers, characters and contents; as well as tremendous grammar errors made me realize that perhaps it was time to rewrite this story, just as one event changes the timeline of the mass effect and bioshock universes.**

**Some of the chapters may only offer subtle corrections or new and different elements, while others may be entirely different.**

**Unlike my previous story, this shall only be the History of Humanity, the history of the Terran Systems Alliance; a nation built by the intellect of the human species and the strength that lies in our free will and indomitable spirit.**

-.

_He who controls the past commands the future, he who commands the future conquers the past._

_Kane_

**2186 - 2 hours after the beginning of the Reaper invasion**

**Earth, Local Cluster**

**Beneath the Atlantic Ocean**

Her hands gripped the edge of her seat, as a drop of cold sweat crossed her forehead, she had been in combat before, the fire of combat with adrenaline rushing through your veins burning any trace of fear, yet now she was truly nervous, she took a deep breath and made an attempt to calm her desperate racing heart; she breathed once, counted to four and exhaled, after two deep breaths she was as calm as she could be. She was ready.

At that moment Sally Ryan knew what she needed to do. It was in her hands the power to save mankind, and perhaps the galaxy yet as the submarine continued its slow descent into the deeps of the Atlantic, her doubts were only beginning to increase. She was about to return to the place where her darkest nightmares lay.

"Are you sure about this Sally? The illusive man will have both of our heads for this" her partner Dr. James Sylvan said while piloting the submarine.

"He has been indoctrinated; you know that as well as me, right now we are on our own my friend. This place may have the key to stop all of this" she countered.

"I actually believe, it is too late" his voice began to tremble with fear. "The Reapers are here, their invasion has just begun. We need to escape off planet and join with the rest of the Alliance in resistance."

For a moment Sally said nothing, her mind wandered off to the horrors up there, all those people in the surface dying by the millions as the reapers were already on the process of destroying all of Earth mayor military installations, destroying roads and isolating cities to begin indoctrinating and converting their inhabitants.

If her plan succeeded, they may not only save billions of lives but prevent them from being in danger on the first place, and accomplishing the dream of the Illusive man: creating a future where humanity would be safe of any threats and its place on the cosmos secured through the mastery of technology and innovation.

But then she remembered all that she had seen on her old memories, if hope was to lie somewhere perhaps it was on the place where the darkest and most ambitious dreams of man had taken form and died beneath the cold embrace of the ocean; a place in Earth where the impossible can happen, even the chance to start a new.

"No, for once I believe time is on our side" as if on cue a swarm of fish clear the way of the vehicle, allowing the remaining lights of a long forgotten fallen utopia to distinguish on the horizon.

Buildings destroyed and flooded ruins composed most of the city, the beautifully designed art deco skyscrapers were covered by sea life, a morbid testament of the ocean reclaiming its territory. Only a few buildings remained on their feet, sustained by repairs made by Cerberus engineers in recent years.

They have arrived at the ruins of Rapture. Just seeing the ruined underwater city sent a shiver down her spine.

What am I doing? Is it right to start the nightmare all over again?

"It never gets old, I been to this place at least four times, and I still can barely believe it. An underwater city built in secret at the middle of the twentieth century, filled with the best and brightest of humanity at the time. How much do you think mankind would have change if the inhabitants of Rapture would have shared their new discoveries to the rest of the planet?" asked James Sylvan with a sad smile on his face.

For a moment, Sally made no answer instead she began to think about the splicers, the little sisters, the big daddies; would the monsters of Rapture have invaded the surface, would Rapture evil have infected the rest of the world like a disease? Perhaps it was time to answer those questions.

The technology and science of Rapture had helped Cerberus to bring back Commander Sheppard. The vita chambers and the regenerative properties of the ADAM slugs had been critical to the genetic enhancement techniques developed by Cerberus. While the molecular fuse technology once used in the skyscrapers of Rapture had been repurposed for the construction of warships and Space stations, allowing the paramilitary organization to reduce costs and enhance their ships and clandestine infrastructure.

Those technologies had brought Cerberus into one of the most advanced and efficient organizations on the galaxy and certainly one of the most powerful.

But now it was no time to delve in the past, it was time to set this right, to build a brighter future.

"Take us to the northern part of the city, there is an intact area known as Fontaine Department store where our objective is located" said Sally.

"Understood partner" James Sylvan answered.

A part of Sally was hoping that the underwater building was already flooded, that the device was destroyed for good, and that this plan of hers was not to succeed. She didn't like to play god in such a way, to change mankind from scrap.

Most of all, she could not stop thinking about that story from Bradbury "A sound of thunder" in which a man accidently stomps on a butterfly during a time travel expedition, erasing a vital portion of the evolutionary chain, causing a massive change in all the timeline. The story had been credited as the origin of the term "butterfly effect" in chaos theory. Who was to say that the events that were about to unfold may not take a darker path, that the one already in place.

She took the highly advance portable computer in her arms, loaded with a copy of every known codex, regarding technologies, historical events, military tactics and messages to serve as instructions.

Her own message in a bottle, not to another shore but to another time

"I hope you are ready, all our hopes and dreams lie with you" she said to the machine in a whisper.

XXXXXX

**2018.05.09**

**UNN Building, New York**

**IN ANOTHER TIME, IN ANOTHER PLACE**

"This is Mira al-Jilani for the CNN transmitting the first public speech of The Rapture Objectivistic Republic's Prime Minister Jack Ryan on the UN, as the once secret nation founded by the famous scientists Nikola Tesla and Dr. Robert Lutece in 1919 as a secret research community outside any government oversight and later reformed by a wealthy Russian-American industrialist Andrew Ryan and a scientist named Anna Dewitt in 1947 has finally presented itself to the worldwide community."

"Many questions had been asked about the self-proclaimed Utopia holding a population of 1.5 million, located in the heart of the Antarctica. Some claim without hesitation that the self-sustainable city that has become known to the world for the past 6 years since their intervention in the North Korean nuclear attack on the United States in 2012, stands as the living prove that without religion, massive state control and the embracing of both individuals and collective achievements humanity can produce the closest thing to a real utopia."

"Now in 2018, finally after secret discussions with the UN Security Council the ROR has claimed that it is ready to present the greatest of its discoveries to humanity as a whole. In these last six years Rapture's technological innovations now shared and co-develop with not only the five nations of the UN Security Council (USA, Russia, China, UK, France) but with several of the most important countries of the world (India, Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, South Africa, Israel and Nigeria) have changed the world; with the medical industry achieving enormous leaps in eradicating the most dangerous diseases which have plagued mankind for centuries; and correct some of the most serious genetically inherit conditions imposed on millions of individuals worldwide."

"In an era where self-sustainable growth is one of the main trending issues of discussion: The construction and manufacture industries are reforming their methods of production by incorporating new metal alloys develop by Rapturian industries."

"Even agriculture practices all around the world have been changed completely with genetically engineered plants capable of providing nutritional content while growing in the most inhospitable environments replacing previous crops."

"Most concerning perhaps is the construction of neutron-antimatter power plants all across the globe, holding the promise to finally put an end to the energy crisis on every nation and avoiding further atmospheric pollution as well. But with the world switching almost overnight to singularity reactors as the main power source for their cities and infrastructures with the price of oil declining as never before; many nations and groups show only concern while gazing at the economic shift of the world."

"After all Rapture's impressive rise to prominence at the international stage within the last years has not been without conflicts. Being the most trending topic at social media the ROR has attracted admirers and haters alike; with social network pages bursting with multiple debates and discussions surrounding the impressive achievements of the once isolationist city."

"Many of those discussions are on the topic of religious rights and spiritual ideologies as Rapture's constitution forbids the settlement of religious institutions on their soil; calling religion as an outdated concept that should have no place in modern society outside a person's own home. That statement alongside a majority atheist population and culture has brought them to tension with many religious figures and institutions like the Vatican."

"The pope himself referred to the ROR as a nation that preaches selfishness and individual well-being over charity or compassion. A misguided people that have absolutely renounced faith and the sanctity of humility, poverty and the Holy Spirit; while completely embracing the cult of themselves, wealth and the illusion that science alone can brought all the mysteries of the universe to light."

"Rapture national Motto: There are no gods, there are no kings, our fates are our own; is a profane ideology, that replaces the sanctity of god's wisdom with the absolute abandonment of moral and divine attachments."

"Also the Republic of Rapture has refused to establish business with conflicted or totalitarian nations, like the already weaken states of North Korea, Iran, Cuba or Venezuela, although they have made some commercial and diplomatic agreements with the People's Republic of China."

"A trending theory on social media is that Rapturian's sharing of the Singularity Core technology to the USA and the European nations has not only economic but also political reasons as the collapse of the oil industry without sustainable transitions would mean a certain economic collapse for nations like Iran and Venezuela; two 'considerable rivals' of the western world."

"Yet for those who have already seen Rapture in person, like this reporter herself, the secluded metropolis where crimes are almost nonexistent and the distance between the low and high class citizens is very narrow, the city is more than a city or a high tech social experiment, it is an idea."

"The idea; that human nature does not hold only the drive to destroy and conquer but also the will to grow and learn in order to build a future on own terms."

XXXXX

The camera switched to the conference room of the UN, where a fifty year old man and a thirty year old woman reached the podium escorted by four bodyguards.

"Finally it seems that Jack Ryan and his vice Minister Alys Tenembaun seem to be ready to give their speech."

"Good morning, my fellow men and women of this planet. My name is Jack Ryan prime minister of the Rapture Objectivistic Republic, but today I am not here as the chief of state of the world most secluded nation, but as a citizen of mankind" he made a pause to study the effect of the representatives of every nation and to allow his words to sink in the people watching his transmission.

"For decades Rapture and its people stood secluded from the rest of mankind because of the fear in our leaders' hearts for fascism, totalitarianism, religious fanatics and nuclear war. We stood watch as The Cold War rage on, waiting or fearing the death of the entirety human civilization in nuclear fire" he declared his voice filled with regret.

"My father Andrew Ryan escaped from Russia during the bolshevist revolution, he came to America to start a new, but as he saw the atrocities of War World Two: the atomic bomb, the holocaust and the death of millions; a deep disgust and distrust of mankind was instilled into him, and he became obsessed with building an utopia free of what he considered the source of all evils: Altruism" whispers of confusion exploded in every corner of the room, as Jack Ryan allow a moment for his words to sink in.

"Please don't mistake me, I am not my father and he did not refer to compassion or generosity but rather his believe that the masses as a whole can become ignorant and easy to sway, allowing for people with sweet words and charisma to control them by what they believe is the greater good. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? He asked every day. When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors and threats - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed. That were the basses of his ideology and his ideals" he made a pause once again.

"His unshakable faith in his belief and his past experiences with collectivism and populism instilled in him a fierce contempt for the people and those who did not took his beliefs"

"Yet thanks to the efforts of those standing with him, people like Anna Dewitt and Bill McDonagh he was able to realize that in the end there is no root of all evils, nor a unique set of truths to guide the path of every human."

"There is no better way to achieve the best in ourselves and find our own path than to work and struggle to do better alongside those who choose to stand by our side. In the words of Ernest Hemingway: There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self" he made a pause as a small choir of aplauses filled the room.

"For decades he worked together with his fellow industrialists, scientists and artists to turn Rapture in what it is today, a gleaming beacon of technological marvel and unique mix of cultures" a little applause came from the crowd as he allowed a new pause.

"But now, as we stand at the dawn of a new age, and we see our world suffering the effects of climate change; social, political and religious conflicts; as well as overpopulation, many of us search for a new beginning, some unfortunately search for someone to blame, be it a person, a nation or a system; and they feed their resentement, unleashing it in path of self-destruction that only creates more pain"

"While others once again embrace the idea of becoming better than themselves and together with our fellow men we work and we strive to improve ourselves and our societies as a whole" many nod their heads and smile to the prime minister as he approach to the main subject of his speech.

"And so, I will just go to the point of this, or we will be here all day" A few laughs came from the crowd, but cease at the moment Jack Ryan's face turned deadly serious. "A few years ago, Rapture Space Exploration Initiative (RSEI) launched a prove to Mars in an effort to study the planet for terraformation and colonization" he turned to the screen, which soon began showing images of the red planet and sensor readings, before stopping in a point of the planet where a 3D scan began taking form. "This probe found evidence of a construction on Mars, an alien construction" gasps of surprise and fear filled the chamber and no one could take their eyes away from the screen where the scan show the image of a ruined complex that according to the prove readings was thousands of years old.

"Together with the US, Russia, UK, China and a dozen other countries the RSEI have begun the design of a ship known as the Prometheus Flame to carry a team of scientists to Mars, where they will conduct a study of the ruins."

"So now as the question of: are we alone in the universe, has been answered, I send a message to every men, women and child of this Earth: It is time to realize we are but one people, one human race, we cannot continue to cling to ancient hatreds and mistrust, we must move forward, we must work together as one and claim a place in the enormous void that surround us" he made a pause.

"Only together then we shall build a new beginning for our children by working as one nation, one species. And I know that if we embrace our better selves and stand side by side then we will reclaim our future and the stars."

As he finished his speech, every representative of every nation began to stand up and look each other still trying to process what they just heard. Soon a few began to applause then a few others, followed by several clusters of people, finally the whole room stood up applauding and smiling. For millennia humanity had stood divided by hatreds, but know perhaps because of fear or perhaps because of the love for their own who will soon face uncertainty they now stood silently united.

XXXXX

**Codex - Timeline:**

**1919 –** A group of scientist led by Robert Lutece and Nikola Tesla establish a small research community in an unknown part of Antarctica. Lutece stays there while Tesla returns to the outside world, he returns later after faking his own death in 1943.

**1947 –** Disappointed with the state of the world after WWII Andrew Ryan and thousands of other industrialist, engineers, researchers and artists are recruited by the Atlantis Project an Initiative to see the new development of the small community of 20000 living in Rapture.

**2012 –** During a massive hysteria for the so call end of the world prophecy, North Korea invades South Korea and launches several ballistic missiles to the continental USA; all of them are intercepted by an unknown satellite with electromagnetic weaponry and cloaking device.

**2013 –** Rapture officially introduces itself at the UN, several government officials of every nation are invited on a tour of Rapture. In the Korean peninsula, American and South Korean troops are able to push back the KPA invasion. The People's Republic of China occupied with a join agrarian development with Rapture refuses aid to either side.

**2018 –** The existence of the Martian Alien Ruins is known to the public

**2021 –** Construction of the Hephaestus station, a massive orbital construction dock tasked with the fabrication of the Protheus Flame and every other space ship is officially over.

**2022 –** First ISA (International Space exploration Association) mission to Jupiter and Saturn through unmanned probes.

**2023 –** A permanent observation post is set on the moon.

**2024 –** The Thinker Mark 8 the most advance computer and AI on the world, is put in service as the Hephaestus station overseer.

**2025 –** Dr. Benjamin Lutece descendant of the legendary R. Lutece, develops the first Rift Portal system, a gateway capable of generating a tear in the fabric of space connecting two stable points. It is use to create a stable portal between Luna's outpost and the facilities in the US. A second rift portal is constructed on Hephaestus station.

**2026 – **The Prometheus Flame construction is finished. A crew of 25 is prepared, 5 are from Rapture, 3 from the US, 2 Russians, 1 German, 2 from China and the rest from several nations.

**2027 –** The UN Security Council transitions into an executive council that takes the role of a provisional One World Government and an overseer for the space exploration development. Works of infrastructure all around the planet commission by the UN began to reverse the effects of global warming and contamination.

**2028 –** The Prometheus Flame arrives on Mars. A permanent outpost is constructed while scientists began unraveling the mysteries of the alien ruins.

**2029 –** The Rift portal system connecting Mars's new permanent settlement known as Delfos with Earth is finished. The Delfos outpost begins to grow into a facility of 200 permanent crew. The joint engineer corps begins construction of a massive Orbital Rift Gate: a ring 3 kilometers of diameter capable of generating and stabilizing a gateway, and sending a ship towards any known coordinates.

**2030 –** The data store in the ruins determines that the aliens known as the Protheans used the outpost as a research station for their observation of a primitive humanity. It is establish that the ruins are almost 50000 years old.

The ruins are reveled to contain a malfunctioning ship power core and several starships, as well as a strange new element, a rare material that, when subjected to an electrical current, releases a form of dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass altering field, raising or lowering the mass of all objects within that field.

After a global effort, the information remaining in the ruins' computers was translated, identifying the structure as a former observation and biosciences station, set up to receive and process data from Earth as the Protheans studied Cro-Magnon humans.

The new element is called Promethium, not only because of its origin and effects but also because it was discovered in a region of Mars known as the Promethei Planum.

**2031 –** Rift Gate 01 is finished.

**2032 –** The Orbital Rift Gate 01 is use to send a survey vessel known as pathfinder to Alpha Centaury in order to determine if the system has any continental world capable of sustaining human life. After a week of uncertainty, the Rift gate opens again as schedule and the pathfinder returns with survey data of the world of Chiron in orbit of the Alpha Centaury main star.

Production of a new form of androids begins in the city of Detroit; the new Synths as they are called are developed with synthesized bio components achieve through Adam cultivated steam cells. The Cyber Gene Corporation takes the lead on the market.

**2034 –** An endless stream of new technologies comes into existence; mass effect fields, element zero drive cores, kinetic barriers, and long distance communications.

**2036 –** A group of private companies and nations put their resources together to build the Atlas, a massive colony ship determined to take 100000 people to the Alpha Centaury system.

**2037 –** Mechanic and genetic augmentations become common place all around the world; laws regarding the limit of implants and gene therapy are established.

**2039 –** The first praetorian augment suit is develop by Ryan industries. Based on the old Big Daddies suit, used by the workers of Rapture to operate in extreme environments, the praetorian augment suit is composed of a cutting edge nano fiber, highly advance subsystems and synthetic living tissue all of which work in combination with an user's implants to give anyone enhanced strength, stamina, and protection to any radiation, blunt force trauma and even the massive G force. Designed to be the new deep space workers, praetorian users can work for hours repairing or building space stations or spaceships, in only six months after their deployment of a praetorian workers crew, Hephaestus station is doubled in size, while any outer problem is constantly repair and refitted by its praetorian workforce.

**2042 –** In Delfos city a baby girl named Alice Moreau is born, becoming the first official human being to be born outside planet Earth.

**2043 –** The Atlas1 is finished, after the activation of the Rift Gate 01 the ship travels through the tear to the Alpha Centaury system.

**2046 –** The Atlas capsules descend on the planet Chiron establishing the first human extrasolar colony in modern history. The construction of two new atlas class colony ships begins on Hephaestus station.

**2048 –** Delfos City now with 2500 inhabitants celebrates its first decade of existence. It is discovered the map of a network of mass effect relays build by the protheans to travel from system to system.

**2049 –** Translation of Prothean data leads humans to the discovery that Pluto's moon Charon is actually an enormous artificial alien construct encased in ice; a translation of the prothean data classified these objects as phase gates. FTL conduits constructed and positioned to serve as FTL lane points to connect regions of the galaxy that otherwise could take centuries through the use of conventional FTL propulsion.

Classified as the Charon phase gate, the construct is left alone for now.

**2050 –** A shipping accident at New York International Spaceport exposes downwind communities to containers of dust-form of Promethium (element zero).

**2052 –** Roughly 30% of the children born in New York after promethium exposure suffer from cancerous growths. Rapture's department of genetic enhancements, implants every single child suffering from the promethium exposure with Adam symbiotic slugs, in order to prevent any deaths and observe the interactions between the two living organisms.

**2052 –** Three new extrasolar colonies are established, while the eleventh journey of the Atlas transport brings another 100000 colonist to the New Rapture main settlement on Chiron. The so called unchained protocol is put in effect, which forbids any colonization or survey effort near the relay network as in order to avoid any space faring superpower from discovering humanity, yet. In order to connect those systems the construction of a Rift Gate network begins, with each system carrying its own Rift Gate.

**2054 –** With over 5 extrasolar colonies established and 16 systems surveyed with research and mining outpost in each of them, besides the permanent settlements on Luna and Mars and the facilities in the belt, the UN executive council and the colonial local governments established the Terran Systems Alliance organization as the main economic, military, exploratory and scientific body of Earth and her colonies.

**2055 –** The construction of the Rift Gate network Hub in orbit of Jupiter begins: several Rift Gates are built to permanently connect the closest colonies and systems.

[NOTE: the Rift Gate works as a tear on the fabric of time and space, so a rift gate can sent a ship to anywhere after setting the coordinates, however the longer the distance, the greater is the energy consumption while the precision becomes lower. A connection between two rift gates (for ships) or two rift portals (small scale; for people) is cheaper and much safer than an unstable tear crack open from only one side]

**2056 –** Onboard the Hephaestus station the Thinker 8 asks its engineer: I am alive? The station is closed for a few hours before Dr. Marian Porter granddaughter of the legendary engineer and creator of the first Thinker tells the Machine that by asking that question, following the principle of 'Cogito Ergo Sum' then it is alive. Dr Porter also activates a special code that allows the AI to have full access to its root files, in which a several personality traits of Marian Grandmother, Pearl Porter wife of Charles Milton Porter are accessed. The Thinker 8 renames itself as MINERVA adopting the holographic avatar of a black woman similar to Pearl Porter.

The new AI source codes laws are imposed, establishing that every AI is to be based around the personality of a tested human candidate in order to prevent a possible AI rebellion. Several people volunteers for the psychological test, and brain scan to become the new source code of every new AI.

**2057 –** Eldfell-Ashland Energy Corporation demonstrates helium-3 fuel extraction from the atmosphere of Saturn.

**2062 –** Construction of Gagarin Station (Jump Zero) begins beyond the orbit of Pluto.

**2065 –** The "zero generation" a large number of children exposed to promethium are reveal to be in possession of remarkable powers, most importantly minor telekinetic abilities and the ability to generate their own mass effect fields. A file from the Prothean ruins confirms the theories of the researchers; these children are what should be known from now on as biotics.

**2066 –** A group of volunteer test subjects developed biotic powers when they are implanted with an Adam slugs exposed to promethium. The Alliance's biotic department is established.

**2068 –** Terraformation efforts on Mars successfully achieve a nearly breathable atmosphere. Plant life begins to grow all around the planet.

**2071 –** A new translation of the Prothean ruins is achieved, revealing that the protheans were destroyed by a race of synthetics known only as the reapers. The information is not revealed to the public until the end of the year, immediately all synths and every AI above level 5 intelligence is forbidden on the outer colonies. Military technological development becomes a priority. Development of mass accelerator weapons, Tiamat cannons and ion laser Point Defense Grids.

**2072 -** Earth's twelfth colony in the Tartarus System is established. As a trinary system, Tartarus has 8 planets and several asteroid belts, making it a center for industry and ship building. With a steady supply chain of resources, trade and a population of 11 billion as a whole the Alliance orders the creation of a military fleet in order to protect them from outer and inner aggression.

Also several new military ramifications are established:

The Alliance's Marine Corps; The Alliance's navy; The Alliance's Starfighter corps; The Alliance's Security Bureau and The Alliance's Special Forces Command: composed of The Naval Special Warfare Command (N7), The Biotic Enforcers Corps and finally The Praetorian Corps (enhanced infantry with military grades Praetorian suits).

**2078 –** With a powerful fleet in service, the Charon phase gate is activated. Several systems are colonized, and a military and technological development is set in motion. The Alliance's operations net is put in place: system connected to either the mass effect relay or the rift gate network are mapped, giving some central systems the role of hubs for either network, for example the Arcturus cluster serves a phase gate hub, while the Sol or Tartarus systems serve as rift gate hubs for nearby systems.

**2079 –** The Alliance's engineering corps begins construction of the Arcturus Station, a massive structure located in a relay hub to serve as trade and military post. Several asteroids are transported to the Arcturus cluster by the use of rift gate systems, to be exploited and fasten up the construction.

**2080 –** Colonization efforts are halted until the development of the Alliance's over extended infrastructure and fleet is completed.

**2098 –** The Alliance's population reaches 15 billion inhabitants.

**2100 –** Construction of the Arcturus station is finished; the entire Alliance celebrates the turn of the century.

**2105 –** New developments in AI, energy weapons and kinetic barriers force the entirety of the Alliance's navy to engage in retrofitting and enhancements, while also a few ships are decommissioned to be replaced with several more advance versions.

**2108 –** Deep space exploration of a survey ship establishes the first contact with an alien species.

XXXXX

**NOTES:** Changes made to the story, as this is still before first contact; humans don't use Citadel terms for eezo or the mass relays.

**-Mass relays:** Phase gates

**-Eezo:** Promethium


	2. Chapter 1: First Contact

**Chapter 1: First Contact**

_Audacia pro muro et scuto opus _

"Boldness is our wall, action is our shield"

XXXXX

**2108.03.17**

**Safire Cluster, Border of the Attican Traverse**

**Alliance's Heavy cruiser, SSV Michigan**

SSV Michigan

Designation: Alliance's Heavy Cruiser

Mission: Deep Survey of the Safire Cluster

Crew: 2280

Luna Da Silva, chief engineer of the Michigan, stood in the observation deck watching the white planet they were in orbit. It was a frozen wasteland, white sphere, but with a breathable oxygen and nitrogen rich atmosphere according to the scan. The captain had allowed his crew to vote on a name for the discovered planet; Luna almost wanted to call it Snowball (yes too ridiculous). They had gone with Hoth, Elsa, Winterfell and Haida (for the people of Alaska). In the end they had chosen Kaldir for an old videogame, and because it sounded cool.

"What do you think, Luna, anything worth of our time down there?" Lieutenant Missuro Su Kwon, chief of security and her best friend asked her.

"I don't know, maybe we should find out, even though we are beyond the Alliance's perimeter of exploration." She answered.

"¿Perimeter of exploration? Seriously? Why does the parliament and High-Com insist in limiting our surveys? We should just activate every mass effect relay in our reach and conquer the galaxy" Edward Claymore, helmsman roared from his seat at the lounge near the window.

"Please, don't be stupid Ned" Dr. Nadia Marrash, the xenobiologist of the ship answered from her seat next to him. "We don't know what is out there, I don't know about you, but personally I don't like the idea of activating a relay and finding myself in front of a Borg Cube" she joked.

"Borg Cube? What are you, a hundred years old? Star Trek is before the dinosaurs." Ed answered.

"Hey, I like the classics" she countered.

"You want a classic; you should see The Expanse, Nadia." Dr. Alexander Culpepper, the ship's psychologist cut into the discussion from his seat near the door.

"I don't think series like the Expanse or Star Trek have a lot of weight this new era, Dr. Culpepper. We are already spacefaring, besides the Michigan could defeat the entirety of the MCR navy while an Indus class corvette like the Orion makes the Rocinante looks like a school bus" Luna also joined in, to the surprise of Missuro.

"You watch the Expanse, Da Silva?" Dr. Culpepper asked mouth agape.

"No, I read some of the books" she answered.

Soon, a message came to each of their wrist band communicators, marking them to return to their respective posts. Dr. Culpepper and Dr. Marrash went to the sickbay, while the rest headed to CIC.

Located inside the bowels of the ship the CIC was a massive room with an holographic table display in the center surrounded by consoles and computer terminals. The security and defense terminal was Missuru's post while Luna sat next to the helmsman in the front terminal that serves as some sort of cockpit.

Captain Ling Han stood at the center calling for everyone's attention, flanked on each side by Commander Isabel Sinclair XO of the ship and Dr. Joseph Ivanov the ship's chief science officer.

"Captain on deck" an officer declared as everyone in the room stood up and saluted.

"At ease everyone" he ordered.

"We have a serious situation on our hands" the captain informed as he allowed a few seconds before continuing.

"A few minutes ago, our sensors detected a piece of scrap metal orbiting the planet. A drone managed to recover it, and we have determined that it was a derelict from another starship" after a new pause, that allowed the captain to study everyone faces showing confusion and curiosity, he continued.

"After a preliminary scan and study by Dr. Ivanov we have concluded that the object itself is not from any Alliance ship" he declared with graveness on his voice.

Silence and gasp of shock, suddenly gave way to heated whispers and conversations.

"We managed to pin point the location of a possible crash site in the planet, we are assembling a team to study the remains and perhaps to engage in…" his voice tremble. "A possible first contact scenario, any volunteers?" he requested.

"As a science officer I will be in charge of the away team" Dr. Ivanov informed stepping forward.

"Lieutenant Missuro Su Kwon" Lt. Su Kwon declared and step up, to Luna's surprise, after standing up from his console. "As a security officer, I must be in charge of protection detail for the team" he declared; Luna also stood up.

"Lieutenant Luna Da Silva" she stood up and stated.

"As chief engineer, I am the best qualify to study whatever technology could be recover." Missuru's eyes went wide as he looked towards her. "I also recommend we bring in Dr. Nadia Marrash as she is the specialist xenobiologist" she suggested.

The captain looked to her then to Dr. Ivanov who simply nodded.

"Very well, the four of you, alongside side a detachment of two marine escort will take the Orion and proceed to perform a survey of the wreckage" the captain sentenced.

After a few minutes of preparation, the group proceeded to the cargo bay that served as sort of hangar for their detachment of two light corvettes. Missuro did not give any word to Luna as they boarded the shuttle. Most of them including the two marines looked nervous, but Nadia acted like a child who had received an early Christmas present.

"I cannot believe it, true alien life. We could all end in the history books for this" she asked excitedly.

"Don't go ahead of yourself Dr. Marrash, the protheans are for all stands and purposes long gone; for all we know who is to say, these new guys are not history either" Missuro said.

Nadia merely glared Missuro for this, while Dr. Ivanov and the marines kept quiet, observing the scene.

"I don't know I am actually excited about the prospect of meeting true sentient alien life. We have been in planets with xeno flora and fauna, and we have even observed worlds holding primitive sentient life. However the protheans did not just went extinct overnight, according to the records we have translated; they were exterminated by the synthetic Reapers. We must not rush blindly into the unknown" Luna sentenced bringing somber expressions in all of those present but also nods of agreement from several in the ship.

To everyone surprise two more people came through the hatch; the ship's main helmsman and the ship's chief psychologist.

"Did you really thought we were about to leave you guys alone in this mission" Lt. Edward Claymore cut into, followed by Dr. Culpepper.

"The captain ordered us to take part in the possible first contact scenario; Lt. Claymore job is to land us down there safety, despite the strong cold winds of Kaldir and as ship's psychologist my job is to make a preliminary psychological profile of any alien being we may encounter. I brought with me a terminal of the ship's IA KARANA who hopefully will be able to translate any alien language present" Dr. Culpepper said, as he showed his wrist pad and took a seat on the ship.

"Dr. Culpepper shall study their manners and language, Dr. Marrash and I will handle their biology. In my inventory, I had brought a Research Scanner developed by the Tenembaum Foundation to analyze any genetic structure we may found down there" Dr. Ivanov ordered.

The crew adjusted their seats and their equipment.

"Well here we go, up to face the unknown, together" Lt. Claymore sentenced as he set the controls to open the cargo bay and descend into Kaldir's surface.

After a ruff flight passing through the atmosphere, cutting through the winds, the Orion finally landed in an stable surface of ice and rock covered by snow, half a hundred meters from the crash site.

Once landing and survey was complete, each of them grabbed an put on an extreme environment suit. Those suits were like a middle term between simple protection gear and a full praetorian exo suit. The suit was comprised of a light Nano fiber tissue with several protection layers and cybernetic subsystems; it also included a transparent visor that could be open without separating the breathing system from his user, and left him exposed to any airborne contaminant.

The external hatch opened allowing Lieutenants Su Kwon and Da Silva; and Drs. Ivanov, Culpepper and Marrash to be received by the cold embrace of an artic howling wind; as the hatch finished in opening, the white horizon of ice and snow of Kaldir with dark blue skies stood waiting in front of them.

The seven of them walked towards the crash site, luckily despite the howling wind blocking their sight, the HUD in their helmets allowed them to keep track of the objective: remarking it with a yellow cube and each other remarked with blue triangles as an indication of friend and foe.

The increased strength of the EE Suits made it easy for them to march towards their objective without so much interference from the howling wind.

Finally upon reaching a small depression their eyes finally set in the crashed alien spaceship, any hope that this was just some unknown private ship of human origin vanished in an instant, that long rectangle shape metal box looked sturdy and of heavy industrial construction but it was definitely not human: markings belonging to none of Earth's languages adorned the outer hull, and its design did not match any Terran vessel profile.

The entire hull had been cracked open from the impact with several debris alongside the site marked the shattering force of a disastrous flight through atmosphere and a furious impact on the ice.

_I will never again complain about Ned's flying skills_, though Luna.

Carefully the group headed for the crack in the hull, with Missuro and the two marines covering their backs with their rifles, as a precaution. Inside though they behold the mess that was the alien ship with circuit boards shattered and crannied cables flaring sparks of electricity all around; they all stood mouth agape and without breath upon laying eyes to the cockpit.

Four individuals, all wearing some type of space suit, were strapped to their chairs in what it look to be the ship's cockpit. They were alien without a doubt as humans do not have three long fingers in each hand and feet, nor use such exquisitely design suits that seem to disregard physical protection for ornamental purposes.

The most remarkable fact was that those aliens seem to have an anatomy similar to humans: as two of the individuals were clearly female in shape. The group stood still studying the aliens, while Dr. Ivanov began taking readings with his enhanced sigma phase-scan a device very similar to a portable camera. Finally Dr. Culpepper kept his eyes in the wrist pad that held his connection to the Michigan's computer. Meanwhile Luna started walking towards them escorted by Lt. Su Kwon.

With her heart running a thousand miles a minute, Luna approached the closest alien. 'She', assuming she was a she, look to be a little shorter than Luna, it was impossible to see her face because of the opaque visor. Another feature Luna could observe in the sexual dimorphism of the aliens was the hood that in the female's case covered part of the helmets.

"Hey… hello, are you okay?… we come in peace" Luna stuttered, she was two heart beats from being a nervous wreck and three from making the Vulcan salute and saying live long and prosper. From the side Lt. Su Kwon kept both of his hands on his riffle, his blank expression look forced as he was trying to hide his own nerves.

A pair of small bright eyes suddenly shone behind the dark glass visor, Luna felt a shiver down her spine, as her heart skipped a beat. The alien girl reacted quickly and attempted to rise from her seat as Luna walked two steps back and Lt. Su Kwon aimed his riffle to the alien before being ordered by Dr. Ivanov to step down.

However the alien remained sit as she realized her straps were still attach, one of her hands suddenly pressed over her leg where Luna glimpsed for the first time a burn mark in the place.

"Keelah… shin at so lat muesh toreth" the alien exclaimed to everyone's fascination, in a voice that even trough electronic filter seemed to be the one of a young girl.

"Dr. Ivanov, she is injured" Luna exclaimed to her CO. He put down the scanner and began studying the readings while walking towards them.

"I can see that, Lieutenant Da Silva" he approached the wounded alien accompanied by Dr. Marrash, who seemed to be the observing the alien woman no longer like a specimen to study but as a patient in need.

"Do you think that medi-gel can help her" she asked Dr. Ivanov.

"Not sure, for what the scanner got this one species has a very weak immune system, while also being dextro-protein dependent opposed to humans being levo-protein. However her injuries are serious, we have nothing to lose" he answered signaling Dr. Marrash to assist the injured alien.

"Easy, this will help you" she made a pause. "I hope" Dr. Nadia Marrash said softly as she approached the girl.

"Yure at shus ta sok?" the alien asked in a tone that almost sound like a question and also transpired the pain of her injuries.

Nadia's med tool applied some medi-gel in the wound, healing the area immediately.

The alien girl visibly relaxed after that, she carefully released the straps or her seat and look to the group in what they assumed it was curiosity.

"Ghen tok noret asari?" she asked, to the group who simply observed her. Then she looked to her fellow aliens and immediately stood up and headed almost ran to them.

"Keelah, shi nas tarron at sut!" she almost shouted to one of her unconscious partners.

This one a male, began rubbing his head before waking up, then he looked towards the girl.

"Nat, shu tan kolen? Giuy ko ta batarian bosh'tet?" he asked the girl.

The girl simply pointed towards them before one again speaking in more incomprehensible words. The man quickly stood up and look to them in something akin to both fear and confusion, before almost immediately turning into cautious curiosity.

"Wait a minute, it seems like KARANA has finished analyzing the syntactic structure of their language" Interrupted Dr. Culpeper, holding his wrist pad and terminal, after pushing a holographic button, he look towards the aliens.

"Farrot, as shi et tas? kot in, as huer as humans (hello are you okay? We found you, we are humans)" Dr. Ivanov began speaking with his words being translated into the alien language by the speaker in his wrist pad.

"Humans!?" the alien exclaimed surprised although he visibly relaxed. Soon the doctor clicked another holographic button in his wrist-tool, before turning towards the aliens again.

"We have never heard about your species" the male alien said, as to everyone's surprise the communicators in their helmets in connection with the computer began translating every word.

_KARANA you rock!_ Luna though.

"Yet you look so much like the asari, it is amazing" the girl added.

"Asari? Beg your pardon" Dr. Culpepper asked.

"Another species, they are physically similar to your race or ours for that matter. Only that they have blue skin and lack any fur growing on their skin" the male said, before turning towards the girl.

"Lia check on the others" the girl obey and procced to wake the other two passengers, trying to wake them up or check their injuries

"My name is Daon'Nuzzra vas Alarei, Quarian Migrant Fleet Marines" he said with some content of pride and authority.

_Quarian, so this is the name of their species_, she thought.

"Dr. Alexander Culpepper, SSV Michigan, Terran Systems Alliance's navy" he declared with authority and then made a pause to study the alien's reaction. "These are my colleagues: Lieutenants Luna Da Silva, and Missuro Su Kwon" he continued, as he wave to them. "And Doctors Nadia Marrash and Joseph Ivanov" he explained.

As the other two quarians woke up, with the other female standing up without any trouble and looking to the humans with caution, the girl stood next to Daon'Nuzzra.

"I am Sura'Leth nar Rayya, thank you for helping me with my wounds" she kindly said.

"You are welcome" this time it was Dr. Marrash who answered as her voice was also translated by the wrist-tool.

The other male however almost collapsed into the floor when he attempted to stood up, as tiny drops of reddish purple liquid began dripping from his side. The three quarians immediately came to his aid.

Dr. Marrash and Culpepper also joined them, while Dr. Ivanov used his scan to analyze the injured alien.

"It seems he has a piece of scrap metal stuck in his side, luckily it did not pierce any internal organs" he added to the group.

Dr. Marrash walked into the group of quarian and stood right next to her new patient. "Let me see, this will help you" the male alien look at her in distrust, however Sura told him that they could trust them; Nadia used her med tool and applied medi-gel into the injury.

"This will make you feel better and stop the bleeding but you will need surgery to remove the small piece of metal in your side" she added.

"Thank you healer, my name is Kael'Traen nar Rayya, by the way" He said still clinging to his side but sounding much more relieve.

"No problem, my name is Nadia Marrash, a pleasure to meet you Kael" she answered as she smiled to him.

"Thank you for your aid, but we are not safe here, this ship is probably unstable. Do you have a ship of your own?" Daon asked.

"The Orion, our ship is landed very close from her, we should head there" Dr. Ivanov suggested. "Then maybe we can begin answering each other questions" he stated.

As the group abandoned the wrecked shuttle, with the girl Sura aiding the injured Kael to walk, the two marines and Lt. Su Kwon kept a watchful eye on the peculiar group of aliens that they had just met.

Inside the much more comfortable interior of the Orion the group sat in the bridge, around the control table and cockpit. For reasons of security Dr. Ivanov had activated the biometric and code locks, ensuring that these aliens were not be able to manipulate the equipment around them without authorization or more importantly attempt to steal the ship.

Kael was taken to the emergency room were Dr. Marrash aided by the systems of the vita chamber made almost immediate surgery on the quarrian young man.

The robotic arms of the Vita-Chamber opened the injury and with milimetrical precision extracted every fragment of shrapnel, applying bio-gel, disinfecting and closing the injury, rendering him back in service, as soon as no risk of infection both on the alien or in of airborne alien virus in the human ship was determined the two of them walked into the bridge, meanwhile every crewman included Ned who was certainly fascinated by the arrival of these alien, were given and earpiece and communicator to translate every word heard or spoken.

"Well, now that introductions have been made, is time to start clearing some questions" Dr. Ivanov began.

"My colleagues and I are from the SSV Michigan a Terran Alliance's ship sent to survey this system for colonization or exploitation. We were studying and charting this system for our star charts when we detected a piece of debris floating in orbit that allowed us to track that crash site. Now what happened with you?" Dr. Ivanov asked their guests.

"I see, well first of all, Dr. Ivanov in the name of my crew, I thank you for aid. The Vikael my ship was tasked with escorting these three younglings to Illium a world distant from here for their beginning of their pilgrimage" Daon'Nuzzra began.

"Pilgrimage?" Luna interrupted him. "It is some kind of religious ceremony of your people?" she asked with interest.

"Not exactly, it is more like a rite of passage, from youth to maturity" Daon continued. "Young quarians are required to undertake a Pilgrimage outside the fleet in order to pass into full adulthood. The Pilgrimage is an opportunity for quarians to experience the world outside the Migrant Fleet, interact with other cultures, and learn to appreciate life among their own people. Their departure is a major event; the whole crew assembles to see them off, and they are given many gifts to aid them on their journey, along with immunity-boosting injections and advice on surviving on the outside" he explained.

"The young quarian cannot return to the flotilla until they have found something of value to bring back - whether information, money, or supplies. When they return, they do not go back to their birth ship, but instead select a new ship to join; this helps maintain genetic diversity by preventing intermarriage between close relatives. The quarian presents their gift to the captain of the new ship to prove they will not be a burden on the crew" he carefully explained.

"Fascinating, so all of your people live in a nomadic space migrant fleet? Remarkable" Dr. Ivanov answered before being interrupted, by the blue hologram of a white hair woman that appeared on the middle of the room startling the quarians a little.

"Dr. Ivanov pardon me for the interruption, but Captain Han has requested a report about the mission" the hologram said.

"I see, thank you KARANA" he answered.

"Who or what is this? Your ship's VI?" Daon asked.

"Beg your pardon, please allow me to introduce you to KARANA she is the Michigan's artificial intelligence, she was the one who translated your language and ours" the four quarians stood in disbelieve before quickly stepping back in fear.

"You have an IA!? A fully self-aware AI!?" he shouted and asked with urgency his tone was so furious and fearful that the marines looked to be about to take out their weapons. "Do you know what will happen if the Citadel Council finds out?" he added with concern in his voice.

"The Citadel Council?" almost everyone asked at the same time.

"You do not know about the Council?" Kael asked with a tone of disbelieve.

"KARANA please allow us a moment, tell the captain I will give you my report in a few hours" Dr. Ivanov told the hologram, which immediately vanished in a cloud of photons. "I am afraid we don't know, about this Council you refer to; what is the Council?" he asked with curiosity.

"You do not know about the Council?" Daon said in shock. "Well to be fair, we have never heard before about humans or the Terran Alliance before, how many alien species have you encounter so far?' the humans exchange looks.

While Dr. Ivanov knew he couldn't risk revealing too much Intel into a possible enemy, his instincts were telling him something like revealing a little bit of recent human history couldn't hurt.

"We have studied primitive alien civilizations in a few planets inside our space but the truth is you are the first alien space faring species we have encountered so far" Dr. Ivanov said, to the quarians shock.

"How long have you been space faring?" Sura asked.

"With FTL technology, less than a century actually" Dr. Ivanov answered.

"I see, remarkable though, for a ship so advance as this one, and such incredible medical equipment, I assumed you were part of some fairly new, council associated race" Daon explained.

"Council associated race? Beg your pardon but what is the council? And what is the conflict about AIs like KARANA" Dr. Ivanov asked.

Daon'Nuzzra took a seat and looked back to his companions, they may also hold some hesitation to reveal too much about themselves to an unknown entity like the humans who could become a potential enemy, but so far they have proven themselves to be friendly and perhaps even honest if they were telling the truth about not possessing experience in a previous first contact before.

And so, the quarians began telling them about The Citadel Council, the Asari, the Turians and the Salarians. About the mass relay network with The Citadel in the center. And finally about the quarian's creation of the geth and the loss of their homeworld Rannoch at the hands of their own creation, when he finished his story every human was either in disbelieve or a deep fear that they could follow the same fate because of the AIs they have develop.

In response Dr. Ivanov began to tell the quarians a brief story of humanity focusing on the twentieth century, of their first steps towards the stars, the discovery of the prothean ruins and unification of the species into a single government.

He continued then with the story of the colonization of outer systems through the rift gates, the threat of their own IA rebellion which gave way to the source code laws, then to the activation of the phase gates (mass relays) and the survey missions into the nearby systems. The quarians eyes seemed to shine even more when they told them that the Alliance had more than a hundred colonies established.

Obviously neither of them revealed any potential threatening information that could put them in disadvantage to the other: for example neither of them told them just how many ships they had or how large was their population.

"So all of your AIs are based on a personality core, developed through brain scans on human individuals? Unbelievable, but the fact you have expanded so much in so little time is impressive. Yet what about those rift gates you said to use, are your people really not bounded by the mass effect relay network?" the quarian asked.

"Well, we still use the activated phase gates, what you refer to as the mass relays, to connect some areas of our space but most of our territory is bound by the rift gates. Each rift gate works by stabilizing a quantum rift or as some called it a tear in the fabric of space allowing a passage from one point of space to the other. We can also create smaller rifts from ship to ship or from orbit to surface" Dr. Ivanov began explaining.

"I find it hard to believe, every single race in known space is dependent of the mass effect relay and element zero. I have never met your race before and I have no reasons to believe that you are lying, however I haven't seen anything that convince me otherwise, yet" Daon said, while crossing his arm in disbelieve.

Element Zero…? Maybe that is how they call promethium.

Doctor Joseph Ivanov remained in thought for a few seconds then his eyes seem to carry the glint of an idea.

"Well, I believe we can prove you otherwise" he said confident before turning to his side. "Dr. Marrash is there any threat of infection if we bring them to the Michigan?" he asked.

"No, with their environmental suits, I am 100% sure that there is no risk for any pathogen at all" she answered.

"Perfect, I believe it is time for you to meet our captain" he said while looking at Daon then turned to Lt. Da Silva.

"However first things first, Luna I doubt that shuttle can be repaired but could try to recover any useful components? Perhaps at least we could have their communications repair so as our new 'friends' can contact help" Luna nodded with her head.

"Very well then" he said before activating his wrist communicator. "KARANA please tell the captain that is better if he comes down here. After that I will be presenting my report in person and I will bring one of our guests with me" he turned to the quarrians who look at him with perhaps concern, it was impossible to tell with their face helmets.

"Please follow me" he said to the group, all of them followed him to the cargo hold, when they all arrived; he stood there for a moment before getting his Data-tool close to his mouth. "Activate rift portal Michigan to Orion" He said to his wrist.

As he finished giving the order, a type of contraption in the ship's roof deployed like flower opening its petals and extending two metallic arms in the central space of the ship. Soon the two arms adopted the shape of a semi-circle, before a stream of electricity went through them, and like a fabric torn open by force, the space itself opened up in a tear than soon was stabilized as a gateway that even allow to see the area of another ship's cargo bay with three men walking towards them.

The four quarians back away in fear and disbelieve, yet not before a minute later, a man dressed in much more regal formal cloaks with a cap of some kind resting on his head, flanked by two armed men, walked through the rift. Then the anomaly closed like a ripple in the water after there is no more movement.

Dr. Ivanov walked forward to make the introductions.

"Daon'Nuzzra vas Alarei I would like you to meet Captain Ling Han, commanding officer of SVS Michigan, Alliance's Navy" he turned to his captain. "Captain Han, allow me to introduce you, to Daon'Nuzzra vas Alarei, Sura'Leth nar Rayya, Kael'Traen nar Rayya and…" he made a pause as he look to the last quarian. "Sorry I didn't catch your name"

"Ranna'Shiun nar Rayya…" the last quarian stuttered, before exclaiming. "You opened a… wormhole in the middle of nowhere… it is unbelievable!" She exclaimed her voice shaking.

"Well, Captain this are quarians, members of a migrant nomadic fleet. They had been telling us about a massive alien dominion known as The Citadel Council, whatever information they can provide us, will become extremely valuable for High-Command" Dr. Ivanov declared.

"I see, outstanding job everyone" he said while looking to the rest of the crew. "So Doctor what do you suggest we should do, now?" he asked.

"Well, I think we may be able to save some of their ship's components to share technology and see if we can trigger any rescue beacon for them" he said while looking to the quarians. "Or in another case, we could give them a ride to the nearest habitable world" he said with some hesitation.

"Do you have any star chart, galaxy map we could use?" the captain asked to the quarians.

"Yes, but all the information is in our ship's computer, we don't know how much of that if salvageable" Daon answered after some hesitation.

"I can try to recover any data or components" Lt. Da Silva volunteered.

"You may need some help to understand our systems, I can aid you with them" Sura suggested, catching everyone off-guard. She sent a look of indecipherable concern to her chaperon.

"Very well, who is your commanding officer?" The human captain asked.

"I believe that role is mine" Daon declared.

"Understood, if you think is right you can come with me to the Michigan, our main ship in orbit. I need to present a report to the Alliance's high command, and I may need your help to do it, this a historic moment for my people, not only fully discovering there is sentient space faring life out there but also presenting the first glimpses of what we may face in the future. Meanwhile Lieutenant Da Silva and your crewman can begin searching your ship for repairs or salvageable components" the captain sentenced.

Daon'Nuzzra with Captain Han crossed the rift portal with the first showing some hesitation yet also fascination for the anomaly. Meanwhile Luna and Sura abandoned the shuttle and proceeded to return to the crashed ship, escorted by Lt. Su Kwon and one of the marines. Meanwhile the others were hanging together in the Orion.

XXXXX

After a few hours together they have relaxed enough to open to each other.

"So your people build all those rift gates to link systems not connected to the mass relay network?" Kael asked amazaed while looking to the holographic displays of the rift gates and some of the systems and vessels of the Terran Alliance.

"Keelah, you are like the new protheans, and you just began exploring space a few decades ago. It is impressive" Kael would have probable do not believe it, if he had not seen three men walking through a hole in time and space and then watching Daon his own chaperon disappearing through that same rift portal.

"Most of our technology was based in our discoveries of the prothean archives; however our genetic, AI and neutron-anti matter energy generation technology was incredibly advance even at the time of our discovery of the prothean ruins" Nadia explained.

XXXXX

Back in the ruined vessel Luna and Sura began to scan the less damage systems of the ship, before twitching around the components intact enough to be repair.

In the entrance of the ship, Lieutenant Su Kwon removed his helmet and turned on a cigarette, with his Incinerate! Powers. While most plasmids were forbidden to the public in the military and several areas of service they were almost mandatory to further the capabilities of each individual.

As for the gene tonics like enhanced memory or superior resistance they were not expensive yet they were not easy to obtain as tests of psychological stability, physical resistance and body health were mandatory to buy them.

And the plasmids critical to military uses or dedicated research were allowed for implementation but only if you could pass the rigorous tests of strength, will and psychological stability required by the department of genetic enhancement.

Also every splicing therapy was only reserved for people older than 18 or 16 in some cases in order to correct genetically inherited defects; no age minor was allowed to be subjected to gene mod therapy.

As the smoke in the cigarette flew the cold air of the exterior, the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing at the distance made their way to the enhanced hearing of Lieutenant Missuro Su Kwon, making him go into alert mode.

XXXXX

Meanwhile on orbit, a few archives of the quarian's ship codex had been transferred to the Michigan's computer, the files regarding The Citadel Council and its members the asari, salarians and turians had attracted the attention of not only the senior officers but also several CIC operators.

"I cannot believe it" one said. "An entire race of beautiful blue skin women, it seems like a dream come true" he joked.

"Come on, they are aliens, we may have more in common with a frog than to one of them, who is to say, their private parts are actually compatible with the tool between your legs" another added, bringing a choir of laughter.

The captain alongside Daon was in the briefing room discussing how to transfer the quarians off world without allowing the whole galaxy to have a peek on humanity, presenting themselves to the galactic community at the moment was not an option. For the time being, just as in the twentieth century the city of Rapture's best defense against the threat of nuclear war and intervention had been its secrecy, humanity for all stands and purposes was not ready to engage in the full galactic community, yet.

The Terran Alliance was still young, more so if you were to compare it with a government more than two thousand years of age like the Citadel Council, and events like The Rachni war, Krogan Rebellions, Geth Rebellion and quarian banishment seemed to confirm the Alliance's idea that the galaxy was a dangerous and mysterious place, so humans needed to step carefully if they were to avoid conflict.

Daon'Nuzzra was impressed by the Michigan and the technology of the Alliance, however he did not kept to himself his opinions on the use of IA, before sitting with the captain and XO to explain what had happened.

"Captain there is something you should know" Daon said. "Our ship did not crashed, we were shot down" Both the captain and first officer raise a brow to that.

"Shot down? By who or what? The geth?" the captain asked.

"No, the geth have not venture beyond the Perseus Veil in centuries, we were attacked by batarian slavers"

"Slavers?" Commander Isabel Sinclair asked, with an expression of horror. "Slavery is allowed in this galactic government?"

"No is not, these are criminals, that go around Council's law. We were attacked and we were attempting to loss them in the frozen winds of this planet's atmosphere, we succeeded, but our damages were critical, so we crashed" he made a pause. "But I doubt these group of pirates could be a threat to a ship like this, yet I respectably suggest that the best course of action is to leave this system as soon as possible, if you want to avoid being discover by the pirates or anyone else" he suggested.

Suddenly the AI hologram appeared in the middle of the room. "Sorry captain, but we have a priority message from the Orion" she explained.

"Captain we have been attacked!" the hologram of Ed Claymore replace the AI's interface, the three individuals stood up shock. "We received a warning from Lt. Su Kwon, then silence and then a group of four eyes alien freaks attempted to attack the ship before our cannons cooked them alive"

"Four eye freaks? Did they have yellow skin and sharp teeth?" the quarrian added before an image appeared of the screen depicting one disgusting creature with four black eyes, yellow skin and sharp needle like teeth. "Yes those are batarians, and they are most likely the same ones who attack us" he explained.

"¿Slavers? My god, NO" he made a pause. "They have just left the crash site a few moments ago, and they took Lieutenants Da Silva, Su Kwon and the quarian girl Sura with them" the silence that had fallen over the CIC was almost deafening.

XXXXX

**CODEX:**

**Tanganica Class Heavy Cruiser:** One of the most versatile ships in the Alliance's navy a 650 meters long, heavy cruiser, designed to engage destroyers and frigates alone, or to act as a front of the line ship in fleet formations.

In retreat or hit and run tactics this ship can use its multiple mass accelerators turrets to overwhelm an enemy cruiser or dreadnought while acting in combination with ally light cruisers, frigates and corvettes. However this ship most powerful weapon is a medium range Tiamat cannon. Like most military Alliance ships the Tanganica carries an promethium core to power the ship while allowing it to tap into a mass effect relay to achieve full FTL, despite the fact most Alliance's ships tend to travel more often through rift gates, than through the relay network.

**Indus Class Corvette:** A small ship built for a crew compliment between 8 and 12. It is too small to carry heavy weapons, instead it serves as a "fighter hunter" or support in CQC engagements, while also providing survey scan for missions.

**Tiamat Magnetic-Hydrodynamic Cannon: **Similar to a directed energy weapon, this cannon consist on an electromagnetic field suspending a liquid iron-uranium-tungsten alloy shaped into armor-piercing projectiles when fired. The jet of molten metal, accelerated to a fraction of the speed of light, destroys targets by impact force and irresistible heat.

**Medi-Gel:** Developed by the Tenembaum Foundation, medi gel is a bio gel produced through the use of Adam slug stem cells.

**Data-wrist tool:** A computer terminal, communicator, medi-gel applier and hacking device, develop by Ryan-Fontaine Industries; issued to every Alliance's Operative.

**This was a correction to the Original First Chapter**

**As always I do not own Mass Effect or Bioshock**


	3. Chapter 2: New friends & new enemies

**Chapter 2: New friends & new enemies**

Nulla tenaci invia est via

"For the tenacious, no road is impassable"

**I know that this is the same chapter as before with only a few changes but please be patient for the story to diverge from the original fanfic.**

XXXXX

**Kaldir, Zafire Cluster**

**Orion corvette**

**2108.03.17**

Around the Orion were the bodies of six yellow skin aliens, with their armors charred by the defense cannons of the ship. The Indus class corvettes like the Orion, were equipped with a point defense ion laser system designed to destroy incoming missiles or enemy fighters, no one had expected that they will be used against ground targets, yet they had been remarkable successful.

Lieutenant Edward Claymore was grateful for that at least. After the failed assault Doctors Marrash and Culpepper alongside Kael'Traen and Ranna'Shiun had been examining the batarian's communicator devices to track down the rest of them. The remaining marine, private Lucas Diaz had gathered the batarian's weapons and secure them, as protocol demanded. Ed was impressed by the quarian's omnitools, they look like a holographic computer and according to their 'alien allies' as a melee weapon. With the help of KARANA and the Orion computer the quarians began their attempt to determine the coordinates of the batarian's ship.

XXXXX

**UNKNOWN**

**Sometime later**

A disgusting smell came through Missuro's nostrils as his body began to wake up, his vision was blurry at first but very quickly it began to clear up. He found himself up against a metal wall inside some unknown room. The space was small no more than six meters for six meters with four metal bulkheads in three sides and a solid door in the third, it was empty except for three bodies in fetal positions laying in the ground; he turned his head to the right to see Luna Da Silva still unconscious, her protective suit and helmed removed, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles tied together, wrath and fear filled him, now he remembered:

Three dozen four eyes aliens accompanied by a group of reptilian monster dogs attacked them, they almost got the jump on him but he and private Norvos (his fellow marine) manage to hunker down on the ship before they started firing on them.

Behind the ruined bulkhead, Lt. Su Kwon and Pvt. Norvos took cover and returned fire. Thankfully luck was on their side, the four eye freaks had the wind against them, with the cold breeze blowing in their faces they were not able to aim correctly. Meanwhile the two human soldiers with their Alliance's issued M-5 Falcon assault rifles had a defensive position. After the situation became clear, Missuro gave Luna his auxiliary pistol and ordered her to hide with Sura in the ship as they held the enemy back.

Taking cover and aiming carefully with his advance scope, the two marines managed to take down at least a dozen four eye bastards before the tide turned against them.

Situation turned grim when the aliens unleashed their six monster hounds against them, primal instinct took hold and they redirected their fire to the hounds, the last one to fall was only two meters from sinking its fangs on them, however the time and ammunition spend on the hounds was time the four eyes freaks had to repositioned themselves and flanked them. With enemy fire coming from every direction, the two marines were left unable to counter attack.

Then with a solid clank a round metallic object pass through the hole, bounced at the bulkhead and landed on the floor. Survival instinct took hold once again and Lt. Su Kwon and Pvt. Norvos jumped up from their kneeling positions.

"¡GRENADE!" Missuro screamed before they fled from the site.

In the mere seconds that passed as they ran like two bats out of hell, all that Missuro Su Kwon could think was: Why the hell I did not get the Telekinesis plasmid?

Then the sound of an explosion cracked like a thunder through their eardrums, and the force of the bomb catapulted Missuro against the nearby bulkhead. As his helmed was smashed against the metal with a sharpening pain in his head, a ringing sound drilled through his skull, before everything went black.

XXXXX

Missuro tried to moved only to find his bloody feeling constricted; he looked down to see a metal wire bounding his arms together, with his hands tightly bound together behind his back, with the metal wire mercilessly cutting through his soft skin. He could feel that his feet were also bound together with wire; he began to struggle only to immediately give up. They have taken his suit as well, he was only wearing the uniform he use underneath his extreme environment suit.

A sound came from his side; he turned his head to his left to see the quarian Sura'Leth in the floor with her arms and legs also bound together. Remembering his training he started to assess the situation:

_1\. Pvt. Norvos is not here, so he is either dead or manage to escape. I just hope is the second._

_2\. We must be in those four eyes bastards ship, they might want to interrogate us. I pray to the Great Chain of Endeavor that we may still be on the planet._

_3\. If no one else is here, it may be possible that the Michigan is still in orbit, and that the crew is searching for us._

_4\. We might be able to escape, hopefully these xeno bastards may have taken our weapons and equipment but they do not know about mine and Luna's plasmids powers, yet._

With struggle he managed to take a kneeling position, any attempt to free his hands resulted in the wire cutting even deeper into the skin with blood dripping like sweat from his wrists. As he looked to his left to the quarian girl apparently unconscious, no one could tell if her eyes were opened because of the visor, he took into account he needed answers.

"Hey, wake up" he shouted first to Sura then Luna. As expected they did not reacted immediately, but after a few moments Luna opened her eyes and attempted to stand while Sura simply squirm in the ground trying to free herself from her bounds.

"Careful, don't struggle too hard or you could get hurt" Missuro said to both of them.

"Where are we?" Luna asked, immediately turning from confusion to dread.

"I would say we are on those four eyes alien's ship" he answered.

"Ohh, Keelah, we are onboard a batarian's slavers ship" Sura intervened sounding distressed.

"Batarian slavers?" both Missuro and Luna asked, with both disgust and fear on their voices. It was fortunate that they had not removed their translation devices in their cortical implant.

"Yes, the Batarian Hegemony are a client species of the Citadel, however they had never bound to Citadel's law regarding the prohibition of slavery" she said, quickly trying to explain. "This must be the same ship which shoot us down" she added.

"You were shoot down? I see you forgot to tell us that" Missuro sharply intervened; Sura even with her features hidden by her helmed looked guilty and ashamed.

"Okay, that doesn't matter now, what matters is how are we gonna get out of here?" Luna added. "I have absolutely no interest in becoming an alien's personal slave" she said half serious half joking, perhaps trying to lighting up the mood.

"Me neither" Sura intervened. "What about the rest of my crew? And the rest of your people?" she asked.

"If we haven't left this frozen wasteland yet, they must be looking for us" Missuro cut in sharply.

The limits of his training had become significantly clear. He was in uncharted territory, he was a prisoner in an alien ship. What if this aliens were far more advance than they were? What would happen if they were to attack the Michigan and gathered Intel on humanity and the Alliance. Was humanity ready for a war against an alien species?

Not to mention that these aliens were definitely the scum of the galaxy. Slavers, seriously, in the middle in the twentieth second century? Why the hell, do you need slaves? It is much cheaper to just produce a synthetic workforce. Perhaps they are scare of the threat of an AI rebellion, just like the quarians had learned the hard way about the dangers of artificial intelligence.

Luna adopted a kneeling position and began to check her bindings, those aliens had taken her protection suit, tools and data-wrist. Metal wire had been tightly put together around her wrists and ankles. It was clear she won't be able to force her way out of them, but maybe she could free herself by another way.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her mind on her bindings, picturing them in her mind, the knots, the wires, the sharp ends. Then a yellow glow began traveling through her hands covering her bindings. Even with her eyes close, Luna could picture the entire amount of knots and binds in her head like if she was untying her shoe laces. As her telekinesis plasmid began bending the wires, her skin softly celebrated as the pressure on her muscles continued to descend. When her fingers finally manage to stretch and her arms were no longer so tie together, she took another deep breath and began channeling the remaining EVE on her bloodstream to break through the last knots.

Thank god I choose Telekinesis rather than Electro Bolt. She thought, so much time had happened since the recombination process that Luna Da Silva had come to consider her plasmid powers as part of her, just another skill and tool of hers.

Finally the last knot was loosened and with a strong pull from both of her arms she broke her bindings. Both Missuro and Sura looked at her in shock, the quarian kept staring at Luna as she began to untie her legs as well, while Missuro focused on the door, expecting an army of guards to start coming through, but after a few moments of nothing happening he turned back to the only other human in the room who had just finished breaking the bindings on her legs.

"Quick! Help me, before any of those four eyes bastards come in"' Missuro ordered, in a hush tone.

Luna obeyed and after a few minutes of working managed to undo his bindings. Missuro headed for the door pressing his back on the wall in order to ambush any incoming enemy. Meanwhile Luna proceeded to free the quarian girl, but she stopped when Missuro gave her a sharp look which said: Are you crazy? We cannot trust her.

Luna look between him and Sura, while the quarian stood in place looking confuse, finally Luna narrowed her eyes and continued freeing the girl, Missuro made no protest, they had no time for that.

"Thank you, thank you" the girl muttered as Luna loosened her binds, when both of them stood up, they joined Missuro next to the door and flatten themselves against the wall.

"So what is the plan?" asked Luna in a surprisingly relaxed tone.

"Wait until they come in and ambush them, then take their weapons, recovered our gear and contact the Michigan" Missuro responded.

"There may be another way" Sura'Leth nar Rayya interjected, as she began working on the door's computer panel.

"Do you have anything we can use as a screwdriver to open this terminal?" she asked them.

"I may have something better" Luna answered as she approached the panel, a yellow aura surrounded her hands and arms as she focused her telekinesis on the metal, to the amazement of the quarian the screws began to unscrewed themselves until one hit the floor with a metallic clank, another fell, then another, then the last.

"Amazing, I did not know you humans could use biotics" Sura commented amazed, as she approached the now opened terminal. Luna did not make any attempt to correct the quarian and explain about the plasmids powers.

"My people have acquired a few batarian ships over the decades, their security and failsafe systems are almost nonexistent, perhaps a side effect of using slave labor to build their ships" she explained as she tinkered with the wires behind the panel. "If I can bypass their locks by sending a false signal of emergency, maybe I can… Yes" she said as she changed the position of two of the cables.

Finally after a sounded beep, the hologram on the center of the door turned green.

Ha, remarkable it seems some color code uses are not so unique to humans. Though Missuro

He pressed his ear against the metal door attempting to hear anything behind it, after no more than a minute, Missuro was sure despite the thickness of the door that nothing stood on the other side. Signaling the quarian to open it, he move from the threshold and assumed a defensive stance, with his left foot in front and his outstretch palms channeling his Incinerate, ready to engage any incoming enemy; Luna doing the same ready to use her Telekinesis.

A blow of relief came from Luna when the door opened and nothing other than a long corridor stood in front of them. Signaling both women to follow him, Missuro walked forward with Luna and Sura following him, as they reached an intersection of corridors, he took covered in one of the sides and quickly eyed every side, before turning to Sura for a second.

"Sura, do you know anything of these ships? What do you suggest we do?"' he asked to the shock of both the quarian and Luna.

"I don't know" she made a pause sounding unsure. "If this is the same ship that attacked us, then this is a batarian frigate, so the crew must not be very large, perhaps 40-50 crewmembers. Also if they have your gear and both yours and their weapons they must have been storage in an armory as the cargo bay…" stuttered Sura, before pausing for a second. "Must be reserved for their prey: slaves" she explained.

Both Luna and Missuro looked each other and narrowed their eyes in disgust and determination. "Well, none of us shall become a slave. THAT I CAN GUARANTEE" he said putting an emphasis on those last words.

Both women nodded their heads.

I'll be damned, yet another universal common point between alien cultures

XXXXX

Back in orbit, the bridge of the Michigan was a veritable hive of activity. Only a few hours had passed since the capture of Lieutenants Su Kwon, Da Silva and the quarian girl however the initial shock of the situation below had vanished. The crew was still eager and determined to recover their missing officer and avenge their comrade in arms Private Mikael Norvos who had died in the fight against the four eyes aliens.

Some of the uncertainty and fear for the alien's capabilities was reduced when the scientific team finished examining the corpses, gear, and weapons of the aliens. The excitement for new developments in genetics or technology that could emerge from the analysis of the aliens and their equipment was turn into dust as soon the studies were completed. The batarians biology did not contain any useful gene ingredient for new gene mods or plasmids, and believe it or not: their armors, weapons and gear were quite primitive in comparison to Alliance technology.

In the center of the CIC Captain Han, Commander Sinclair and Daon'Nuzzra were focused on the hologram of the surface as their continue scans, and the examination of the batarian's communicators had manage to pin point the location of the batarian ship.

The four marine escort standing behind Daon was a clear sign that the trust in him was far from absolute, the quarian officer however understood the human's reasons and for the moment he was only focused on recovering his people and theirs.

A deck officer approached the captain and whispered something in his ear. The captain left the bridge and went into the briefing room.

A few minutes later he returned to control room with a sharp look on his face, his eyes narrowed in determination.

"Captain has the conn" he announced. "KARANA, give me a location now!" in response the hologram appeared in the middle of the holographic board as a few inches figure.

"We almost have location captain, the winds on the surface have made our tracking and scanning difficult, however I believe they are also the reason while the batarian have not engage their engines and leave the planet yet. They are still in the surface" she explained.

After that the hologram vanished, while the captain's grip on the table tighten, showing his frustration.

Finally KARANA's hologram appeared once again and announced the location of the enemy ship, as an area of the planet was zoomed and enhanced before being marked by a red triangle, indicating the location of the enemy and objective. After a few seconds of pause, the captain pressed a button in the board, turning on the intercom, his voice reaching every man and woman on the Michigan.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen this is it!" the Captain spoke.

"If the day before any of you had told me that we will be meeting an alien species today, much less two, I would have ordered a psychiatric evaluation for that person" a few laughs came from the bridge crew.

"But here we are now, this a historic moment not only for us and the Alliance but for all of mankind. After reaching the stars and searching for the unknown, we have just met a few new friends" he said looking back to Daon. "And some enemies, these batarians are a group of pirates and slavers, the scum of the galaxy! They assaulted our team, killed one of our soldiers and kidnapped two of our people" he allowed a moment of pause, for the crew to process this information.

"We are the new kids in the block, none of these batarians bastards know of what humans are made of! I say we show them!" a few cheers came from the operators. "A strike force will be assembled at once, we will rescue our people and any prisoners these sons of bitches have, and we will show them that humans protect our own!" New cheers came from all around the bridge. The captain rose his voice and finished his speech. "There are no gods; there are no kings; Terra Aeternum!"

"TERRA AETERNUM!" was shouted all around the ship.

"Commander Sinclair you shall be in charge of the operation" he ordered his first officer.

"Yes sir!" she answered as she saluted him.

"Gather up, the praetorian squad and assemble a team of marines, be ready for a direct strike" she merely nodded. But before she left the bridge the captain rose a hand, stopping her in her tracks, then he looked at Daon'Nuzzra, the quarian flinched for moment under the captain's gaze, but immediately adopted a more resolved stance.

"Captain Han, with your permission, I would like to be part of this operation" the quarian asked. Commander Sinclair gave the captain a questioning look.

"I will have to oppose to that Captain" Commander Sinclair sharply protested, avoiding the quarian's gaze. "Having an unarmed civilian in the battlefield is never good" she said.

"I am a Migrant Fleet Marine I can look after myself; one of my people was also taken; and this batarians were the ones who shoot down my ship. I have plenty of reasons to take down those slavers bosh'tets" he proudly said.

The captain and the XO exchange looks.

Captain Han hatted this; he was tacking a side in a fight that wasn't their own. But it has turned into their fight when two of his officers were kidnapped and one of them was killed.

"Very well, you will accompany the assault group" the captain ordered, and then he turned back to his first officer. "Commander you will provide mister Nuzzra with one of our weapons and two marines to act as his escort" he ordered.

"Understood, Captain" she responded before turning to the quarian marine. "Follow me, mister Nuzzra" Daon simply nodded.

Both of them walked outside the bridge and into an elevator, after reaching one of the lower decks they walked through the hallway before reaching the cargo bay. As soon as Daon glimpsed the full extent of the cargo bay with the second Orion-Class corvette hanging from the module coupling in the celling, his heart skipped a beat.

Standing in the platform was a whole platoon of 40 assault marines in extreme environment combat armor, next to them was a group of a dozen 3 meter tall exo-suits with remarkable features.

Those must be the so call praetorian heavy infantry.

As soon as he and Commander Sinclair reached the platform, the whole platoon stood in line and salute her.

"Soldiers is time for combat, we found the location of the batarian ship, the winds are too strong to descend with a ship, but our proximity and location had allow us to aim a rift portal right next to the enemy" she began her voice strong, looking to every soldier. "The praetorian group shall go first, we must take control of the ship, secure any technology and information from it, and rescue our crewmates" she made a pause allowing her orders to sink in.

"Well is time to bring our people back home!" she shouted.

Signaling two soldiers to act as his escort, Commander Sinclair took a small pistol and handed it to Daon'Nuzzra. The quarian was actually surprised by the elegancy of the weapon and the simple design, after showing her that he knew how to handle a gun, she ordered to assume a place in the formation. The weapon was simple enough even though it had been designed to be operated by someone with five short fingers instead of three long talon-like fingers.

After that, she took her position in the frontline of the group, before a dozen individuals approached the praetorian suits. The soldiers were wearing some kind of bio suit, not to dissimilar than a wetsuit, in an almost perfect synchrony they climbed on the heavy exo-armors and an instant later, like an armor with its own intelligence the praetorian suits tissue was overlaid upon their users, Hiding their human operator inside, like if they were nothing more than iron golems they stood up with each of their steps making a heavy thump on the metallic floor.

Approaching a group of boxes each of those huge super marines took an enormous gun, so big than no normal human being could even lift it of the ground, with their weapons on hand the new full armor golems took their place at the center of the group.

"They are Praetorians Rosie type armors, a multi-purpose advance exo-suit designed for users working on extreme environment conditions such as in the void, or hostile planets. They can also be used in war, although they are few praetorian armors exclusively designed for combat" one of the soldiers said to Daon.

Moments later, the same contraption Daon had seen in the Orion was deployed and a rift portal appeared in the middle of the cargo bay, allowing them to glimpse the frozen surface of Kaldir.

"With me, let's go" Commander Isabel Sinclair said as he led the group into the portal, Daon hesitated for a few moments then follow then as well.

After passing through the rift, the cold winds of Kaldir covered the group, making visibility difficult, however their helmet's HUD mark their objective in front of them. After a couple of minutes of walking through the snow, the shape of the alien frigate appeared in front of them.

A group of batarians were standing outside the ship, attempting to repair the damage in one of their subsystem on the left wing, as soon as they saw the large group coming their way they ducked behind cover, grabbed their weapons and call for help.

Using the translator program provided by the quarians, Commander Sinclair addressed the alien ship.

"Batarian ship, this is Commander Isabel Sinclair of the Terran Alliance's navy. You have attacked us unprovoked, killed one of our own, and taken two of our people prisoner. We have your cripple ship surrounded and a cruiser in orbit, returned our people and surrender. No one else has to die, today" she said to his wrist communicator.

"Terran?" a deep rusty voice came through the communicator. "So that is the name of your species? Ummm. I am Captain Ghursk of the Master's Whip; it was your people who attacked us by helping those quarians suit rats. It is you who will be surrendering when we finish with your forces. There are many slave merchants who will pay anything for a newly discovered specimen of a previously unknown species such as your people" he made a pause. "I believe I will keep one of your females, your kind reminds me a lot of the Asari" He spited in a voice laced with arrogance and lust.

For a moment Commander Isabel Sinclair said nothing looking to her soldiers and the only non-human in the group.

"Very well" she said to her communicator, before addressing the platoon. "TAKE NO PRISONERS, KILL THEM ALL" she ordered.

"Yes ma'am" plenty of soldiers answered.

The batarians assembled a defensive line with a dozen soldiers taking cover in front of the ship, and many more descending from the ramp. The human marines advanced by crouching and taking cover behind ice formations, while the praetorians simply advanced with their barriers and armors shrugging off enemy fire like if it was rain, and their heavy mass accelerator weapons piercing through the batarian's barriers like paper.

The true complication came when the ship's defensive cannons began firing against them, with one heavy round piercing through one of the praetorian's barriers and producing damage on the armor's shoulder. However a group of combat engineers moved forward and with their Hacking Tools fire Hack Darts on the cannons, hitting them with an electro shock pulse, before hacking the weapons and the ship's computers.

KARANA's connection to the enemy ship's computers allowed her to quickly invade their systems. No matter how advance your computers were, a true AI was able to cut through any firewall in place accessing data; system's controls; crew manifest and support equipment.

The batarians attempted to regain the upper hand by releasing half dozen wolf like creatures that according to the codex were called Varren, however four of those monsters instantly fell down to the Alliance marine's heavy fire, while the last two met their end on melee combat. One of the front line praetorian soldiers moving at an incredible speed by his size deployed his sword bayonet and beheaded one of the varren as it was about to pounce on him. The last varren jumped into another praetorian attempting to devour him, but the iron golem with his incredible reflexes caught the beast in mid-air by the neck and squeezed it until the varren moved no longer.

XXXXX

When the alarm was activated and all of the batarians proceeded outside to defend the ship, Missuro, Luna and Sura were lucky enough to avoid detection by hiding behind a crate in their route to the armory, where their gear and weapons must have been kept in storage.

With Luna forcing the terminal opened with her Telekinesis enhanced strength, Sura proceeded to bypass the lock of the door while Missuro kept watch for any incoming enemies. Finally the secure door was opened revealing inside two other alien beings, different for the batarians or quarians.

These creatures look reptilian, with bright red eyes, sharp needle like teeth and three holes like ridges in their foreheads. Luna's face went as white as milk upon seeing these monsters that made the batarians or the splicers looked not so different than humans, fear and disgust filled her.

The two aliens seemingly smiled upon seeing a new prey in front of them and pounce at the group.

With fear, anger and EVE running through her veins Luna used the full of her Telekinesis plasmid powers, her whole body shone with a yellow aura and in an instant her hands throw a wave of kinetic energy forward and catapulted both aliens to the wall with a solid thud.

As Missuro rushed past Luna and Sura attempting to use himself as a shield, Luna collapsed into the floor exhausted and tired for the overextend use of her plasmids powers. Both of the savage aliens seem to be KO after the impressive push.

"Wow, amazing, I have never seen biotic powers like that" the quarian muttered.

Luna didn't corrected her, she was too tired to explain now. From the ground she could see that the armory hold many weapons and gear, in one shelf were hers and Missuro's XE suits and one standard Alliance's assault rifle.

"Those Vorcha are down" Sura added, looking relieved, meanwhile she reached a device in one of the shelves and out it around her arm.

"Vorcha?" Missuro asked.

"They are a race of aggressive short life individuals, they are quite primitive and have low intelligence but they are very resilient and adaptable, so they are often used as cannon-fodder by criminal organizations like the batarian pirates" she made a pause. "But make no mistake, they are completely ruthless, in some cases much more so than the batarians or krogan" she explained.

What the hell is a krogan? He was asking himself, but he understood the comparison.

"I see" Missuro answered, as he approach the two aliens.

After checking the state of the vorcha guards, Missuro proceeded to grab his riffle and examining for a few moments before also grabbing his XE suit and taking a new ammunition clip from one of the pockets. After a few seconds of hesitation, he aimed his riffle at the two unconscious aliens on the floor, and pulled the trigger, killing one and then the other.

Luna and Sura gave him a glare of shock after his execution of the vorcha, yet he looked at them, with a determined look. "Better be safe than sorry, Luna put on your XE suit" he ordered before turning to Sura and handing her a batarian weapon. "Please tell me you know how to use a gun?" she asked.

She hesitated for a moment before answering and taking the gun. "We have some minor training in the Flotilla before departing for the pilgrimage in order to defend ourselves" she explained as she tested the gun's weight and toyed with the ammunition clip before trying its aim and her firing stance.

Taking of the three of them by surprise, one of the vorcha's communicator began to cough up some indecipherable language, Sura however could understood it.

"Did you hear it? Your people are here to rescue us" she said exited, to the confuse Missuro and Luna. "Oh sorry, you don't have the batarian translation matrix, yet" she said before activating her omni-tool and typing some code, she introduce new programing in their translators.

"We have to leave now, those iron krogans the humans brought with them are crushing us" a batarian said, desperation clear in his voice. "Prep the ship to take off, NOW"

Missuro, Luna and Sura exchange looks.

"We have to prevent this ship from leaving" Missuro ordered. "Time to meet the leader of these pirates" he said as he took his communicator from the XE suit.

"Michigan, this is Lieutenant Su Kwon. Can you hear me?" he asked to his communicator, not a second later KARANA's hologram appeared in the device.

"Lieutenant Su Kwon, I am so glad to hear your voice" the AI remarked, with concern and happiness in her voice, however her hologram was immediately replaced by the one of Captain Han.

"Lieutenant, I share Karana's relief to hear that you are still alive, but let's get to the point. What is your status? What is the status of Lieutenant Da Silva and the other quarian?" the captain asked.

"They are both okay and they are with me, we managed to escape and recover our gear and weapons. What are your orders?" he responded in a determined voice.

"Karana has just been able to hacked through the batarian's ship system and prevented them from leaving. The assault group is ready to punch through and capture the ship, we are transmitting a 3D map of the ship. You can either hunker down and await rescue or clear the way for our forces to enter the ship by attacking the enemy in the main access at the cargo bay" the captain suggested.

Missuro thought for a moment then he smile and look back to Luna who simply nodded.

"Tell our forces I will meet them at the entrance" he answered with a predatory smile on his face.

Missuro and Luna, decided they did not have time to put on their XE suits, but they did grabbed the shield module from their suits and attached them to their uniforms to provide themselves with an small but durable kinetic barrier.

Following the holographic map they reached the cargo bay without encountering any enemies.

Up in the elevated passage in which they stood they could see a small group of five batarians taking defensive positions in front of the ramp.

"When I give the order, hit them with everything you got" Missuro instructed to the two women, both of them nodded in agreement.

Summoning the EVE in her bloodstream, a bright flame appeared in Missuro's left hand and not an instant later the flame was thrown into one of the batarians group setting them ablaze.

"NOW!" He shouted.

Despite the fact that Sura hesitated for a moment after seeing the human male creating a huge flame out of the tip of his fingers, she also joined in the shooting taking the whole group down in mere seconds and ending the misery of the burning batarians.

"Assault group you are all clear, I repeat you are all clear" he said through his communicator.

A few moments later a whole group of human marines led by three praetorian commandos climbed the ramp and entered in the ship, securing the place.

"All clear" one of them said, the order was repeated by the rest as they finished their recon of the room.

Commander Isabel Sinclair soon followed them accompanied by the quarian Daon'Nuzzra and half dozen more marines. Luna, Missuro and Sura climbed down and reunited with the team, Daon visibly relaxed upon seeing Sura alive and unharmed.

"1° Squad secure this room; 2° squad Proceed to secure the engine room; 3° squad recon the ship for any other occupant; 4° squad and Liutenant Su Kwon with me, time to secure the bridge" she ordered the group, all of them nodded.

Missuro joined with the 4° squad and Commander Sinclair. In the bridge according to Karana who was scanning the interior of the ship through the sensors and communications, the batarian captain had killed two of his own crewman for suggesting that they should surrender, but the ruthless batarian refused to give up without a fight. Commander Sinclair's Electro Bolt was even faster than her shooting, the Master's Whip's captain was paralyzed before being gunned down by the assault team. The rest of the ship's areas fell down quickly.

XXXXX

After checking the boxes in the cargo bay, the marine group found that the largest container was in fact a cage filled with a dozen unconscious aliens that according to the quarians were asari, in a drug induce coma. The resemblance between asari and humans left the marines both astonished and unnerved. Whatever semblance of compassion or regret was for the destruction of the batarian pirate group instantly fade away replaced by disgust upon discovering that those asari were to be sold as sexual slaves in the batarian hegemony.

As the marines took a few of the asari to the frigate's medical bay to be treated, Missuro and Luna made their reports and send them to the captain, who in turn presented his own report to the Alliance's high command.

After a few hours of work, repairing the batarian frigate to be taken as a prize and salvaging any usable cargo, Captain Han ordered his first officer to return to the Michigan. A few minutes later a new rift portal open up next to the batarian frigate and the captain alongside Doctor Ivanov came through, to speak with the four quarians.

"Daon'Nuzzra, I would like to thank you and your group, both in the name of my crew and the Terran Systems Alliance, for your aid in rescuing Liutenants Su Kwon and Da Silva and avenging the death of Private Norvos" he said.

"It is us who should be thanking you and your crew Captain Han for your help both in the crash site as in the rescue of Sura'Leth. Also the galaxy as a whole should be thanking you for your role in taking down this gang of pirates" the captain's face turned sour upon hearing those last words, to the surprise of the quarians.

"Well, I also came to tell you that I have sent all the files extracted both from your ship and from the slavers ship, the Alliance's high command has decided that humanity is not yet ready to engage with the full galactic community" he made a pause. "Our government and species are still very new to the concept of others spacefaring sentient species. Humanity must not revealed itself to the greater galactic community yet, so I am afraid this is where we part ways" he explained.

"Beg your pardon. You are leaving us here?!" Daon asked clearly distraught. "We will die, without a ship and supplies…" he was about to continue when the captain smile and rose his hand asking for him to stop.

"Of course not, I only meant that we will be taken separate routes as we leave this planet. Dr. Culpepper has told me that your young ones are require to undertake a Pilgrimage outside the fleet in order to pass into full adulthood, in which the young one cannot return to the flotilla until they have found something of value to bring back" the four of them nodded.

"Well I believe after being attacked by pirates and losing a ship you certainly had a rough start. However you were successful, you have your gift right there" he said as he pointed to the batarian frigate, the four quarians looked each other in shock.

"You are leaving us the pirate frigate? Why don't you bring it back to your people? Even if the ship is primitive by your standards, it is filled with usable components" this time it was Kael'Traen who asked.

"That ship is primitive, it is filled with the bodies of dead batarians and a very sick group of asari, my people has already gone through the ship attempting to find any piece of valuable technology and equipment that we did not get from your crashed ship. What I propose is an exchange: you allow us to keep every component of your crashed vessel and maintain the existence of the Terran Alliance from other races that may see us as easy picking as a secret, in exchange you can keep that ship, after all you are certainly going to give it a better use than those pirates, it will be the gift of your pilgrimage to return to your fleet" the quarains exchange looks once more.

"Also please return those poor asari women back to their homes where they could get some help" he suggested.

"We will, Captain, thanks for everything" he answered confidence in his voice. "The existence of the Terran Alliance shall not be revealed by any of us. Good journey Captain Han. keelah se'lai"

After a few short goodbyes between the first contact crew and the four quarians, the human Heavy cruiser SSV Michigan and the reclaimed frigate took different headings. Yet it would not to be the last time, humans and quarians were to establish friendship or fight side by side.

XXXXX

**CODEX:**

**M-5 Falcon assault rifle:** The standard mass accelerator rifle for the Alliance's Marine Corps. A common, versatile, military-grade assault rifle; accurate with a scope and when fire in short bursts, and deadly when fire on full auto. The Falcon is effective at penetrating shields, armor, and biotic barriers.

**Gene-Mods:** Many citizens in the Alliance subject themselves to gene-mod therapy in order to improve their health, physical condition and mental capabilities. However in order to engage in ADAM recombination, those candidates must submit themselves to physiological, health and condition tests in order to check their suitability for gene-mod therapy. Overuse or incompatibility with gene-mods will result in the subject either rejecting the gene-mod or becoming what is known as a splicer.

**Plasmids:** Plasmids are special serums made from processed ADAM that introduce modified stem cells into the body, allowing for genetic modification and mutation, giving the user what some might call "super powers". Active Plasmids require EVE for use, while passive Plasmids, called Gene Tonics, provide an effect merely by being equipped. Plasmids are powerful, but excessive use of them leads to physical and mental addiction and instability.

**PDC ion laser defense system:** Based on the ion lasers develop by Minerva's den tech, the point defense laser system is conceived as a defensive grid on a ship against missiles or enemy fighters.

**Praetorian armors:** Advance Bio Augmented suits designed to interact with a user genetics and technological enhancements to allow feats like incredible strength, stamina, resistance and speed. The most common use of the praetorian suits is to serve for workers in extreme environments, while some programs to develop suits exclusively for combat had been called upon.

Some people calls the praetorian corps as the "space marines of the Alliance" despite the fact that only the Bouncer and Rosie armors were originally designed for maintenance and construction operations.

**Splicers:** Individuals who after subjecting themselves to gene-mod abuse had lost most of their rational thinking; suffered deformities as a result of an unstable genome; and according to some lost most of their humanity.

**AI development:** Based on the development of the Thinker, every human AI is to be based upon a human core personality and drives. Most fully sentient AIs serve on board starships or bases, while some low level AI are of common use as personal assistants not different than a regular VI.

**Hacking Tools:** A remote hacking device issued to combat engineers

**Hacking Darts:** A container filled with nano machines and medium range communicator design to be fire upon nearby machinery and through contact with an AI hack any system.


	4. Chapter 3: All Roads lead to the Nexus

**Chapter 3: All Roads lead to the Nexus**

Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; ex luce ad tenebras

"From ignorance into wisdom; from light into darkness"

**The first fully original chapter in this rewritten fanfic, we will see the discovery and consolidation of the Erebus Nexus as the capital of the Terran Alliance.**

**For reasons I have previously explained, there won't be a presence of the kashani and the Talosians (Virtual Aliens) in this story; this is a fanfic about humanity and the intervention of Rapture and its technologies into a new Systems Alliance.**

**Artwork for the story:**

hicarus666/art/Erebus-5-808642816

hicarus666/art/Erebus-808642075

hicarus666/art/Erebus-4-808642758

hicarus666/art/Erebus-3-808642705

-.

**CODEX:**

State of the Alliance (2109 CE): On July 11th 2054 the Terran Systems Alliance was formally proclaimed as the first step towards a truly unified human one world government and an interstellar society. Faced with the realities of establishing an interstellar dominion and all the opportunities and dangers that presented, the Alliance was conceived as the main political body to defend and represent humanity.

The Terran Alliance's economy and population are continuously growing as a result of the versatile nature of the ever expanding Rift Gate Network that connects the hundreds of systems containing outposts, mining stations and colonies established. While the Mass Effect Relay Network is critical to the expansion and control of the Alliance's territory, it is the Rift Gate Network that allows those systems not bound by the mass effect relays to be surveyed, colonized, terraformed or exploited.

One of the most striking aspects of the Terran Alliance society and perhaps the greatest trait inherited from the Rapturian Society in Earth is the implementation of a tiered citizen structure regarding the use of genetic or synthetic augmentations: Tests of intelligence, health and endurance as well as complete fulfillment of certain duties (education, service, and work) grants every citizen limited access to gene-mods and synthetic augs, this system serves not only to avoid the proliferation of ADAM missuses, but also as an effective tool to combat wastefulness or corruption. While advances in technology and production mean that even the lowest tier citizens can enjoy confortable and productive lives, this system also serves to promote duty to the state and responsibility to human society as whole.

As human society evolves into a galactic civilization and most of the former religious and national sentiments have begun to fade into simple traditions, especially in the oldest colonies, a new group of beliefs has settled on their place. The constant pursuit of freedom, happiness, knowledge and wealth are only match in the hearts and minds of most citizens of the Alliance for the value of individual and collective will; and by a new devotion for the "sanctity" of Mother Earth as the core and origin of mankind. These new values have taken shape most clearly in a motto unofficially adopted by the military and the most radical elements of human society, a war cry that shows that as humanity prepares to embark in the greatest journey in its history, it marches forward united in purpose, determined to claim a place among the stars: There are no Gods; There are no Kings; Terra Aeternum.

**Planets and government of the Terran Systems Alliance (2109 CE):** While essentially a one world government, the original executive council of the Alliance was formed by the most powerful nations of Earth, most of which had their own agendas and visions of the new space dominion of mankind. The USA, Russia, China, the UK, France, Rapture, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Nigeria and Pakistan, under the oversight of the Alliance's parliament, were determined to expand their economies, cultural values and governments into the extra solar colonies, yet none of them could do it alone. Also with the threat of either a massive interstellar civil war or a hostile alien power, the military just like most areas of research and development are a joint cooperative effort.

As a parliamentary democratic federation, the main institution within the Alliance is the Parliament which serves as the main legislative body of the super state with an elected Prime Minister acting as its chief of state. The parliament building is located in New York City while the residence and office of the Prime Minister is in Hong Kong. Supporting the Prime Minister is the Cabinet of secretaries which handles most of the state affairs in the government from the economy, education, culture and defense to more specialized areas of society like Genetic enhancements, sentient rights or synthetic rights.

Hundreds of worlds have been surveyed, charted and later claimed first by the Alliance's colonization authority and military and then claimed and colonized by one or various nations, as decades have passed many of those worlds have begun to request greater autonomy from the Alliance as the quick expansion of humanity has enabled most of its citizens to decide their own paths, while for the first time in history most of humanity no longer lives in Earth or in the Sol System but rather in the distant stars.

-.

**CORE WORLDS:**

**-Earth:** Capital and homeworld of Mankind, reaching a new golden age, as most concerns regarding poverty, contamination or overpopulation have been solved in a considerable measure. It represents the seat of the government and the mayor economic, industrial and cultural center of the Alliance.

The planet is in the middle of an environmental recovery program, in which technologies used in terraformation are used to reverse the effects of global warming and pollution.

It has a population of 7,5 billion people; with millions immigrating to the outer colonies each year.

**-Luna:** Earth's moon holds numerous installations for industrial or military purposes; it contains a large number of mining outposts, industrial manufacture centers and a huge network of orbital facilities that serve as a dock and construction yard for the Terran home fleet.

**-Mars:** While Mars has a very weak magnetic core so the development of an atmosphere is almost impossible several terraforming devices have stabilized living areas of the planet were the air is breathable and plant life has begun to grow. The capital of Mars is the City of Delfos constructed over the location of the Prothean archives. Mars holds a population of 16,3 million people.

**-Chiron (Alpha Centaury):** Earth's first extra solar colony, carrying a population of almost 1,1 billion inhabitants is a planet with a mass almost as twice as that of Earth with a gravitational force of approximately 1,5 G. Most of the planet's inhabitants come from the three nations which were main sponsors of the colonization effort: Rapture, the USA and The People's Republic of China.

It is considered a staging point for many of the largest colonization and terraformation efforts of the Terran Alliance.

**-Praxis:** An almost uninhabitable world with a gravitational force nearly three times that of Earth, freezing cold weather even in the equatorial stretch and a heavy atmospheric pressure with high radiation levels and an abundance of nitrogen.

All of those traits would have made this planet a poor prospect for colonization if it wasn't for the rich deposits of Element Zero and heavy metals present there. Decades of colonization and exploitation have turned Praxis into a heavy industrial center for the Alliance. Yet the most remarkable trait of Praxis is its population: 200 million people who were brought into the planet by the promises of wealth and the opportunity for a new beginning were forced to subject themselves to extensive ADAM enhancement mods in order to imbued artificially enhanced biological adaption to the toxic atmosphere, high gravity and radiation storms. Now after almost three generations of living in that hostile planet, the praxians as they call themselves are considered by many as a new sub species of super humans; hardened by the adverse conditions of their home, and the most vocal colony vouching for greater autonomy within the Terran Alliance.

**-Tartarus System - Hades:** Main docks and industrial center of the Alliance's fleet, it is a zero atmosphere planet, rich in mineral deposits, platinum, iridium and titanium. With an enormous asteroid belt in the system, many orbital facilities had been constructed in order to assemble some of the largest ships on Terra Space.

**-Arcadia:** Established by the joint efforts of the European Union and Rapture investors, Arcadia is the bread basket of the central colonies, a garden world with a vast fertile land and almost 120 million inhabitants.

**-Rodin:** Arid world in early terraformation process, main site for production of synths and headquarters of the Cyberline Corporation. The rich deposits of nickel and lithium are vital for the production of Quatum processors for advanced computers and androids.

**-Columbia:** Established by the joint efforts of the US and the UK it is one of the most developed colonies, it contains some of the best learning centers in human space and perhaps the galaxy. Its capital Londinium is considered "the jewel of the outer colonies". The plantet has a population of almost 105 million.

**-Demeter:** One of the first extra solar human colonies, within normal FTL reach of the Sol System and of rapid development within the Local Cluster, considered a paradise world. Population: 73 million.

XXXXX

**OTHER MAIN COLONIES or POTENCIAL PLANETS:**

**-Eden Prime:** One of the Alliance's most successful colonies, population 19 million, main agrarian colony on the Exodus cluster.

**-Terra Nova:** One of the first colonies developed after the activation of the phase gates (mass relays); main industrial center on the Exodus cluster; it holds a population of 26 million.

**Tyr:** Mining colony on the Exodus cluster.

**-Benning:** Alliance main colony on the Arcturus stream. The nearest garden world to Arcturus Station is the primary source of its food supply and an important staging area for starship maintenance and repair. Population: 25,1 million.

**-Intai'sei:** Japanese colony, and newest Alliance colony in the Argos Rho.

**-Noveria:** Frozen planet, site of various corporate experiments and tests.

**-Amanecer:** Established as the first joint effort by the South American countries to expand their presence into space and prove their worth to the rest of Earth's nations Amanecer is a vast humid-garden world with a binary star, covered in endless thick green jungles. Most colonies and cities have been built near the coast or on deserted areas as to prevent any alteration in the planet's environment. It is the site of development of some of the most important health and gene therapy programs in the Alliance.

**-Sinhon:** One of the first and most populated colonies in the Alliance, a garden world containing a population of 900 million most of them of Chinese-South Asia origin and others coming from India and Pakistan. While it could be consider a core world of the Alliance, unfortunately it is a planet plagued by racial, ethnic and religious conflicts, and one with a very impoverish population, a clear example of how some of Earth and humanity's oldest problems have followed them into the stars.

**-Shambala:** A garden world with vast mountain ranges and valleys, the abundance of diverse ecosystems and environments have made this planet one of the most suitable sites for troops training and field tests. Many military exercises and simulations were held in this world by the Alliance's navy.

**-Karnak:** Desert world, rich in mineral deposits; several mining post have been established there.

**-Persephone:** A frozen world, site of several black sites and the central military prison of the Alliance's navy.

-.

**2108.04.12**

**Jotunheim System, SSV Iwo Jima**

_Alliance frigate recon squad, in route to a recently discovered system_

"Do you know why they called this system Jotunheim, Ensign?" Lieutenant Damian Radhav asked his comm officer.

"Because of the star sir" Ensign Liana Voltok answered. "Jotunheim was the land of the ice giants in nordic mythology and this system contains a blue star even larger than Arcturus" he made a pause. "My god, 123.058.329 kilometers, it's even bigger than Rigel A" she added.

"Exactly, as such this star has such a gravitational force that it has created three separate a super ring of asteroids and broken planets that is beyond comparison the asteroid belt of Sol" he explained. "The asteroid ring is kept in place by a brown dwarf in the closer orbit and a medium size gas giant on the more distant orbit. The strange thing is that one of our proves has found an anomalous signal coming inside the asteroid ring, it is hard to get a reading with all of this radiation so we will have to get close to get a good look" he explained.

"Such as the explorers of old, is it not Commander Radhav" his XO Lieutenant Commander Liam Ryan commented.

"Agreed Lieutenant" the captain answered.

"Sailing across the endless black ocean pursuing all those spots of light just to see them in full size always makes me thing about just how insignificant we are" the second in command said to the captain as they stared the hologram display on the CIC.

"That is why you abandoned your confortable life of rich boy in New Rapture Liam?" the captain asked with a tone more friendly that the one a superior officer should maintain.

"It was all just too easy in there" the man explained. "I needed to see the galaxy and see all that it has to offer" he said.

It was mostly true, Liam Ryan was a direct descendent of Andrew Ryan one of the founders of the city of Rapture and of Ryan Industries, after the unveiling of the Rapturian Republic, the corporation expanded all across the world and then all across Alliance space and every Terran colony. Being one of the largest construction companies in human territory and the main supplier of gene mod therapies and plasmids enhancements, the company became the single largest business conglomerate in the Alliance especially after the successful merging with Fontaine Futuristics the second largest ADAM treatment company in the Alliance.

Growing up in New Rapture capital of the colony of Chiron in the Alpha Centaury System within that family had not been easy; he was the fourth child of the five children of Jason Ryan and Maria Silverman, he had one older brother and two older sisters; the oldest Sarah was only interested in maintaining her lifestyle and perhaps carry on the legacy of the family and company; his other older sister was more of a rebel or an idiot more specially just like his brother.

In the end he joined the navy to leave that life and follow his own path.

At that moment contemplating that impressive star system he was confident that he has made the right choice.

"Sir we have just launched a new prove and I believe we have just found something" the scan officer informed them.

As the probe's scan began transmitting its readings, the holographic display in the CIC reconfigured its photonic field to display some kind of space station of unconceivable shape and scale.

An enormous metallic ring from which sprouted eight massive structures like the petals of a flower around a center which contained two smaller rings and several asteroids captured in place.

"What in the devil?" the captain asked.

"Well that is definitely something" Lieutenant Ryan commented. "MERIDIA what is the size and state of the structure" he asked the ship's AI.

"The construct appears to be a space station of some sort; ancient in construction apparently; there is no trace of heat or energy signals at all so the possibilities of any life forms inhabiting the station or any systems still active is below 8%" she explained. "As for the scale of the construct, the outer ring has a diameter of nearly 160 kilometers long with a circumference of approximately 502 kilometers" MERIDIA explained to the amazement of all of those present in the CIC.

"Holly Crap!" Ryan boomed. "That thing is Ginormous, with a capital G" he said. "And I thought that Arcturus Station was big" he commented.

"Agreed, such a structure may be of prothean origin like the phase gates (mass relays)" the captain answered. "MERIDIA can you confirm that the station remains inactive" he asked.

"Our preliminary scans show several damages, disrepair subsystem and unfinished constructed areas of the structure" the AI explained. "Also with all due respect captain, observations contradict your hypothesis of prothean origin for the construct; archeological findings on prothean ruins and data tend to suggest that the prothean architecture and design found elegance in simplicity, with swooping curves and smooth surfaces" she explained, before making a pause.

"Also believe it or not, that construct's subsystems are considerable primitive in comparison to ours or prothean technology" she informed them.

"Primitive?" Ryan asked. "That superstation looks like something of an old science fiction movie" he commented. "How is that thing could actually be considered primitive?" he asked.

"There are no traces of promethium (element zero) power nodules or Neutron-antimatter cores, in any place of the facility, it looks like fusion reactors and solar panels made the most of that station power source" she explained.

"And the layers of ruined construction frames and scrapped machinery one over the other suggest that the station may have experienced stages of construction expanding centuries perhaps millennia. But the lack of any signal, energetic or organic at all around the construct gave the hypothesis of abandonment a probability of over 86,3%" she confirmed.

After a brief pause in which all the crew members at the CIC exchanged looks, the captain looked at the holographic display and then to his crew.

"Helmsman, take us to the proximity of the construct but do your best to maintain distance of the asteroid field" he ordered, before looking at his XO. "Lieutenant Ryan prepare a survey team" he ordered him and then he turned to the holographic avatar of the AI.

"MERIDIA please send a report to Alliance Fleet Command detailing our discovery" the captain ordered.

-.

After a few minutes of preparation Lieutenant Ryan and four others were inside their Praetorian suits ready to land on the superstructure. The station looked even more impressive as the Iwo Jima arrived in proximity, it was beyond comparison even with the largest orbital facilities on the Alliance but the sight through the windows and holographic displays served to confirm the observations of MERIDIA and the probes: the construct was a wreck with technological ruins and machinery over shattered frames and cracked metallic hulls, with asteroid impacts across the ring and structure.

There were three rings structures; the largest making the circumference, one in the middle and one near the center. The inner ring was far smaller than the outer rings but the amount of facilities constructed over it was impressive. Like some sort of array of mineral refineries to break asteroids.

The four largest petals like structures that sprouted from the outer ring contained each a ruined and abandoned city stretching for almost 40 kilometers in both opposite directions of the ring. The other four smaller petal structures were only 24 kilometers long in each direction of the ring, also connected to the ring at the edge of the smaller petal were long arms extending to the center of the ring and holding the inner ring together.

The whole construct was fascinating; it left even the phase gates (mass relays) in shame.

"Prepare to land" he ordered his group. "Tread lightly, we are in unknown territory" he added.

The group entered the shuttle and prepared to descend.

"Time to make history" he said as the shuttle left the Iwo Jima's bay, approaching the ruined city in the closest petal.

-.

**2108 – two months ago**

**New Sparta; planet of Praxis:**

The sweat of her brow had already reach her eyes filling them with a small tickling and the bow staff of Diego had left a purple mark in her shoulder.

_I could have avoided that, yet I didn't_

"Good fight Masha, it seems I am improving" Diego Cruz, her classmate a boy almost fifteen years old and one of her closest friends told her with a warm smile on his face.

"It was a good fight, and you are right, you are getting better Diego" she answered as she smirked devilishly, and adopted a defiant stance. "But next time, I will not make it so easy for you" she said.

Diego turned pale and gulped for a second. _Perhaps I should not have left him win, well there is always next time._

As she turned to leave her data wrist flare for a moment, she looked into it, apparently so Professor Rosembaun had ordered her to go to his office at once. That was never a good sign, the last thing she wanted right now or anytime was to have Professor Rosenbaun poking his needles into her body, checking the levels on ADAM and EVE production, regeneration and cellular resistance.

She headed toward the girls locker room, once in there she removed her training clothes and changed into her regular attire for the outside weather, the thermal clothes, gloves and boots felt uncomfortable indoors but were mandatory outside. After she finished putting the rest of her clothes and gear into her backpack she headed to the exit with the rest of the students. Once they were all gathered in the antechamber, the instructor Drill sergeant Jiun put on his gas mask signaling at the rest to do the same. They crossed the first door into the antechamber that worked as a sort of airlock for the environment outside.

Once the door was opened the cold air outside hit them like a cold wave, as she look around she could see that a few of her fellow students hadn't put their gas mask on. It was not a surprise, after all the use of the gas masks was more a tradition than a law. All of them were the third generation of praxians, their lungs and bodies had adapted to the planet's environment, none of them were greatly affected by Praxis's atmosphere or heavy gravity, Masha especially, yet she used the mask as a habit.

Outside as she followed the rest of the students, she checked the holo map in her data wrist and headed to Professor Rossembaun's building a few blocks away from her current position. All around her people walked through the streets minding their own business none of them paid much attention on her, she liked that, yet the voices in her head and the 'smell' of different emotions was starting to bother her. She had years of mental training and biological conditioning, but she could never close her Psi abilities completely. People didn't say as much as the graffiti on the walls:

_There are no gods; there are no kings; Praxis Aeternum_

_New nation, no colony_

_We are Praxians; we are the children of the Uroboros_

All of this writings had next to them the symbol of a snake biting its tail; the symbol of the praxian secessionist movement, political and social order was starting to boil little by little in Praxis.

Finally she arrived at Professor Rosembaun laboratory, after presenting her card key at the main door she entered the building. Professor Emil Rosembaun's laboratory was not too different from the training center, praxian architecture was almost the same in most cases, a solid structure designed to sustain the constant pressure of the winds and isolate the people inside from Praxis cold weather, also almost every building was equipped with an antechamber designed to both avoid the escape of heat and prevent the entry of praxian nitrogen heavy air into the inner space. Once inside she removed the gas mask, taking a deep breath of not filtered air as she put down her winter hood, storing her gas mask in one of her backpack's pocket.

For a few minutes she waited outside Professor Rosembaun's office. Finally the reception VI told her to come in, she sighted as she entered the room only to see that there were two unknown men inside next to Professor Rosembaun, one looked like a businessman wearing a fancy black tie suit, with a pin carrying the emblem of the Terran parliament near the neck; the other was a military officer using the uniform of the Alliance's navy.

"Good afternoon Masha I thank you for coming so soon, may I introduce you to Secretary Rodriguez of the Alliance's office of foreign affairs and Captain Sheppard of the Alliance's navy" the professor explained. "Apparently, they are interested in the use of your psi abilities for a diplomatic mission" those last words and the aura of professor Rosembaun expressed concern. Masha was surprised for that.

"Professor Rosembaun would you kindly leave us alone for a few minutes" the politician asked.

"Of course" professor Rosembaun answered, before he left the room he send a concerned glare at Masha.

"Are we secure?" the captain asked to his arm communicator, where a new top of the line data wrist too containing a fancy orange holographic gauntlet appeared around it.

"Yes Captain, the room and building have been scrubbed clean for any listening devices or peeping toms" a female voice, most probably an AI adjutant answered.

"Well miss Lutz, I am sorry for all of this but there is an operation to be executed by a special task force of military, diplomats and a science team, but we may need your help" the captain explained, before handing her an information pad.

"The information there is classified, we have studied your records about the reach of your abilities and made a detailed examination of your psychological profile, yet we have taken a huge risk by allowing you to read them" he made a pause. "You should know, you can back away now, but once you read that, you are in this one hundred percent" he expressed with a tone laced with severity.

Masha hesitated for a moment then she took a huge breath before beginning to read the report, about an incident located in a planet recently surveyed and designated as Kaldir.

She haven't passed the first paragraph and the first three pictures before pausing for a moment and looking at the two men, she focused her psi perception into them, both them were carrying truth or at least they believed it was the truth, that didn't make her feel better. Her eyes keep widen in disbelieve as she reach the part about the quarian Codex history, she continued reading the report about the battle against the batarian pirate group, by the time she got the summarized Codex of the Citadel Council, she was stiff as stone.

"So not only there are alien nations outside the borders of human space, but there is also a coalition of species out there, and if humanity is not prepared, we will be sweep aside by the mists of history" she declared to the two men.

The secretary simple stared at her, while the captain smiled in response.

"Whatever it is the mission, I am in" she declared with confidence to the surprise of the two.

"You don't even know the nature of the mission" the secretary interjected. "There is still a debriefing for you to be present and after it you will have a chance to remain in the sidelines if you are not confident about your ability to perform accordantly to our objectives" he explained.

"I am tired of hiding what I am to everyone around me Secretary Rodriguez, I want to go and see the galaxy, besides I have a feeling that the mission you are preparing is not a military operation but a rather some sort of covert diplomatic deal" she answered. "Isn't it?" she asked.

"You are right Ensign Lutz" the Captain declared with confident.

"Ensign?" she asked.

"You will need an honorary rank to participate in this operation" the captain answered. "Let me give you an explanation as short as possible" he made a pause as he took a heavy breath.

"The prime minister and the Alliance's High command are still debating about going public with the news of the first contact with the quarians and the engagement with the batarians, such a historic event needs to be reveal to all of mankind after all" he explained before adopting a more serious expression.

"The problem is that the revelation of the existence of this Citadel Council could create panic all over the Alliance after all one thing is knowing that there are aliens out there, other is that there is a government with more than a thousand years of use of FTL technology and dominion over the galaxy. We are simple outmatch and outnumbered against this alien coalition" he explained.

"But we have two advantages: one is that apparently we are the only species in the galaxy in possession of Rift gate technology and the government of this Citadel has strict laws that prohibit the development and existence of fully self-aware AIs" he added. "In a way we have greater range of expansion and movement with our ships and colonies, but that and our overextended use of AIs might probably classify us as a threat. Also the historical data of the Geth and the Quarians might cause an uproar of justified fear over AIs and non-shackled synthetic workforce all across our territory" he made a pause and looked back at the politician signaling him to speak now.

"In other words we need an edge" the secretary explained. "Sooner or later we are going to reveal the truth about the encounter in Kaldir and most of the information in the quarian Codex regarding the Citadel Council and its species. But humanity is not ready and we may not be welcomed into this greater galactic community despite all of our achievements, we need a secret weapon that will force these aliens to think twice before declaring war on Earth and her colonies" he explained before adopting a devilishly smile. "Three days ago we discovered a derelict ship near the Pax System, it contains a very interesting alien species that was believed to be extinct and we may need your help to communicate" he said.

Her mind wandered for a moment, _could he be speaking of the protheans?_

"So you want me to act as an interpreter in this first contact with this species?" she asked.

Both men nodded.

"I am in" she smiled and answered.

She shacked the hand of the captain and then of the secretary

After the debriefing end, she asked permission to go to the bathroom.

Once alone in there she look at her reflection in the mirror, a few doubts were creping over her mind, but the chance to see true sentient alien life was something all of humanity has dreamed for decades.

She removed her contact lenses and stared at his reflection once more, her yellow eyes glowing like a Led lamp. She then put her hand on her belly; beneath her skin, muscle and flesh was a creature that has been part of her body almost since her birth rested around her stomach, feeding on the nutrients her blood stream provided and giving its host immense cellular regeneration and resistance, then she looked the place of the bruise from that morning, as expected it has already vanished completely.

_A lilim embarking on a secret mission that could decide the fate of mankind…_

The ADAM and EVE of her blood flared with an almost sexual excitement.

_I will be hard for them to accept me, but I will prove my worth to them, and if there are aliens out there, then maybe, me and my brethren will no longer be consider freaks or Frankenstein like abominations._

_May the Great Chain of Endeavor shall guide our way._

-.

**2108**

**Quarian migrant fleet:**

Commander Daon'Nuzzra vas Alarei stood in his room observing the infinite number of stars in the window. He, just like every other member of the quarian race has lived his entire life in a ship traveling through the galaxy, nothing in the void was foreign to him, yet there were days he just could not glimpsed the great empty expansion without felling the same emotions he has felt as a child, curiosity, humility and the desire to see all.

The last few months had been good for him, he had risen from a simple marine to the second in command of the Alarei, all because of the encounter in CM2 (or as his new found friends had called it: Kaldir).

After leaving the planet, the young pilgrim Sura'Leth had been able to restore two of the asari prisoners back to health, they did not tell them anything about the humans or their Alliance, only that they had also been attacked by the pirates and that by mere chance and a few doses of good luck the four of them were able to defeat the slavers. A few of the batarian corpses were still on the ship's morgue but most of them had been thrown off the airlock so as the quarian crew could reclaim the ship without any trouble.

Upon arriving on their original destination: Illium, the control tower was surprised upon seeing a batarian frigate in quarian hands, and denied them landing authorization until one of the asari former prisoners talked to them and told them everything that happened.

On their landing they were received by a security group of asari commandos, a medical team to check on the remaining asari prisoners and a crew of journalist who were ecstatic to hear the news that a group of four quarians have outsmarted an entire pirate crew, gaining control of their ship and finally releasing twenty Asari Republic citizens from a lifetime of slavery.

The news went through the extranet quickly and upon their return to the migrant fleet, Daon'Nuzzra, Sura'Leth, Kael'Traen and Ranna'Shiun were received as heroes. Not only they had brought a brand new frigate to the fleet with all its cargo and equipment as a pilgrimage gift but they had also proved their worth to the fleet and the worth of the quarian people to the galaxy, with their actions.

Even though there were some tensions regarding the idea that the pirates may seek retribution for the ship and the dead crew, everyone knew pirates were a ruthless batch who may be more ashamed and disgusted at their fellow criminals for allowing themselves to be defeated than at the quarians for outsmarting them.

The mood of celebration did not lasted long, the day after their arrival, he and his companions presented a full report with the whole truth, detailing their first encounter with the humans, the attack of the slavers, the rescue mission and their departure of the planet after the farewells.

The conclave and the admiralty board decided to honor the request of the humans to remain isolated from the galactic community. Deep inside Daon could not blame humanity, the Council may see itself as the great overseer of galactic peace, order and civilization and a beacon of liberty against the savagery of the Terminus systems; but quarians, krogans and many others saw the Citadel Council for what it truly was: an arrogant oligarchy determined to maintain their supremacy in the galaxy while they pass judgment on the other races.

Yet a new power was about to rise in the horizon, one not bound by the mass effect technology, the relay network, or genetic and technological limitations. A nation still in its infancy yet already considerable powerful, filled of potential and now hungry for allies.

-.

**2108.05.25**

**Nar Sara, arid planet Alliance colony**

**Alliance biological research facility**

As soon as Masha Lutz reached the surface of the planet she knew something was unusual, a voice, a song like a whisper in her head was caressing the edges of her mind. She was not without experience in psi synchronizing with non-human species but most of her previous psi connections had been with animals and non-sentient beings. This voice was young in mindset but ancient in spirit; isolated but with a great reach; it was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

"Through here Ensign Lutz" the officer in the shuttle port advised her, he didn't know who or more like what she was.

"Thank you Sargent Vargas" she answered.

"I didn't tell you my name" the man said, with surprise paling for a moment, perhaps believing she had read his mind.

"Your name is written in your uniform" she said as she signaled the named tag in the uniform. "And I heard your soldiers calling you sergeant" she informed him.

"Ohh of course" the man looked at his name tag and felt like an idiot.

_He doesn't know just how much I know about him now, it is better if they don't realize yet_

Walking through a long passage into the base with her escort, she arrived at an elevator with heavy door and electronic blockade. A man wearing a lab coat introduced a code in the computer lock and the door of the elevator opened for them.

Five soldiers and a sixteen year old girl descended into the deeps of the installation.

The voice in her mind was stronger now and there were many other voices only these ones were almost imperceptible.

Reaching an observation booth several men and women wearing lab coats and hazmat uniforms were running around or working on their terminals. But she could feel something else, like a call for help and a feeling of loneliness that was strangely beginning to be replaced with something else, a sense of…hope.

_She knows I am here, she can hear me just like I can hear her._

She walked forward until she was looking at the enormous containment cell beneath them. Her heart skipped a beat, staring at her was an enormous creature that resembled a mix between a giant spider, an ant and a squid. A black chitin exoskeleton covered the body of the creature with a pattern of eyes like glowing dots that emitted some kind of bioluminescence property; the black creature shone like a neon sign.

Surrounding the large creature were two dozen smaller green spiders, which sight sent a cold shiver down her spine, she could hear low nearly indecipherable murmurs coming from the smaller spiders. Looking back at the larger creature, she could feel a great sadness coming from her.

"Can you feel anything, Masha?" professor Rosembaun who has insisted in coming with the group asked her, she turned to him.

"It is a rachni queen is it not?" she asked.

"Yes it is" Captain Shepard answered. "We found several eggs in a derelict ship several months ago, we were not sure what kind of species was until we received the Intel from the Quarian Codex. The Tenembaun Foundation and the state department of xeno biological research decided to begin study of those creatures in a controlled environment; secluded and safe" he explained.

"Our neural scans of the queen show remarkable intelligence and even an ability to communicate through pheromones with her offspring" a scientist cut in.

"It is more than that" she intervened. "Not only I can feel her impulses and link in empathy; I can hear her voice…" she made a pause. "Her song" she said.

Everyone looked at her with confusion and curiosity, a few were also nervous, it was strange to be in the same room with a Lilim individual.

Individuals like Masha known as Lilims or Kori Lilits were the offspring of individuals who had become addicted to genetic splicing and enhancement and as so, they have damaged DNA resulting in children born with malformations and sterility, but also possessing some remarkable abilities that even plasmids and gene mods could not replicate.

In order to stabilize their condition, Lilims were injected with an ADAM slug that served as a sort of symbiotic organism that helped their bodies and minds to reconstruct themselves and provided them with impressive cellular regeneration that made them nearly immortals.

As for the abilities, the most common and remarkable was a sort of psychic connection that the lilims could project on others, feeling their emotions and drives, while some trained lilims could even hear thoughts.

Perhaps the most mysterious fact about the lilims was also the most well-known, most lilims were born female, only a few were born male perhaps one among five females. According to geneticists and biologists this particular trait was a byproduct of the damaged DNA of their progenitors, as the basic genome was female the DNA corruption affected the Y male chromosome.

Lilims were a rare sight in the Alliance, secluded almost from birth for their own protection and that of others; but in Praxis the overextended use of genetic augmentation has resulted in the birth of lilim children from stable progenitors and normal families.

But as people were generally afraid of individuals that could read their minds, the lilims kept a low profile: training to keep their abilities in check, using inmuno suppressors to maintain their regenerative abilities low and wearing eye contact lens to hide their bright golden irises.

"Let me go down" she asked.

"Pardon me, ensign?" the captain asked. "You want to get closer?" he asked.

"No, let me into the cage" she answered to the amazement of the entire room.

"I cannot authorize that, it is far too dangerous" the chief science officer declared.

"I am a trained lilim and a biotic; I will be fine and I don't think the rachni will try to hurt me" she explained.

The captain, the scientist and the secretary exchanged looks and after a brief discussion in private they agreed to allow her entrance into the jailed nest.

-.

In the lower level, two metal doors also protected by a kinetic barrier served as an "airlock" to enter the cage. When the first door opened she walked forward after taking a deep breath, looking at her back she exchanged looks with Secretary Ramirez and Captain Shepard, both of them shared expressions and feelings of distress and concern, that made her feel less alone and less frightened. Then the door behind her closed with a soft metallic crash, focusing her mind and biotics she was ready to enter the cage.

"Ensign Lutz" the voice of the captain ringed through her communicator. "Last chance to back down, this is very risky, no one is forcing you to do anything" he said.

"I must do this captain" she said. "Not for me or for the Alliance but for the creature in the cage, she can understand me and I can understand her; I need to speak with her" she answered.

There was no response then the door in front of her opened.

_Here I go_

Moving forward she felt the eyes of the lab personnel staring at her figure from the observation booth above her. The green spiders and the giant black bugs with tentacles coming from their backs surrounded her but they did not moved to attack her, as if they were afraid, but not of her, they were scared of disobeying their mother, she could feel that.

The enormous insect moved forward towards her as the rest of the hive retreated, in the observation booth everyone was nervous. They were scared that the rachni queen would attempt to eat her, yet they were also curious about this type of encounter.

The queen lowered her head and stretched one of her tentacles towards the human girl in front of her Masha moved her hand forward and touches the black tentacle.

_You can sing, you can hear our song, your song has color._

_Music? Now we are sync, we are connected; I am Masha Lutz, human. Who are you?_

_You are different from the others; their way of communication is strange. Flat. It does not color the air. When we speak, one moves all. I am the mother. I sing for these children, those left behind; in my memories lies the songs of our mothers but now the sky is silent; I do not hear them; I…we are alone._

_You contain the memories of those before you? Impressive; and you are right I am unique among my kind. Your kind is known by others as rachni, feared and hated for a war long passed._

_We know of that war, we heard of our mother's cries as they send us away when we were only eggs. Would you help us or send our people to fade into silence once more?_

_I shall help you, I will talk to my people, and I will let them know of what you have told me._

_We thank you, we will sing to our children about your compassion, we will teach our children harmony and if the actions of your kind are truth we will return the favor._

_You are welcome by the way what is your name?_

_We have no names; we do not refer to each other by sounds and symbols as your kind and other do._

_But my kind does refer to each other and ourselves with names, we need something to call you besides rachni queen._

_In your mind lies an idea, a vision of your beliefs, we will accept your judgment; as we do not care about how others call us._

Her memories moved towards her studies on Greek mythology: the goddess Maia, mother of Hermes, and adoptive mother of Arcas, the child of Zeus and Callipsto.

_I will refer to you as Maia, the mother._

-.

**2108.07.16**

**Earth, Local Cluster**

**Prime Minister Office, Hong Kong**

After the establishment of the Terran Alliance as a the first step towards a united government of Earth and her colonies, the UN building in New York was reformed to become the chamber of the Alliance Parliament, while the world court and the central institution of justice for the Alliance was constructed in The Hague in the Netherlands. Being the other largest sponsor of human colonization it was decided that the People's Republic of China would be rewarded by hosting the seat of the Executive organ of the Alliance.

With Rapturian technology and new resources provided by the outer colonies a floating city known as Shui Gong city was built near Hong Kong. Self-sustainable and state of the art the city was chosen as the site of the Central Chancellery. In a large chamber at the newly inaugurated Minister residence, the Prime minister, his cabinet alongside representatives from various nations, colonies as well as various military officials, businessmen, scientists and intellectuals of every field of study have gathered together to decide how to best proceed in securing the state of the Alliance and its future relationships with this Citadel Council and its species.

"You all know why we are all here" Prime Minister Sinclair declared. "Let's begin with the meeting, and remember that whatever happens today could decide the fate of the Alliance and of all mankind; first things first" he made a pause.

"Admiral Fontaine you and General Zhukov have been studying the observed military capabilities and doctrines of the Asari, Salarians and Turians our most immediate rivals in the galactic stage. I understand you have developed some effective contra measures against them all of which required a substantial alteration of the composition and doctrines of our fleets and ground forces as well as a considerable increase of the defense budget" he said. "Please give us an abstract of the changes you intent to make on our military that will justify such expense in resources" the chief of state asked.

"Thank you Prime minister" admiral Fontaine stood up and approached the holographic display in the room and began typing commands on the board.

"The current formations of the navy do not require much change other than a few new possible test scenarios for our officers to take advantage on our exclusive dominion of the rift gate FTL method" he explained. "But we need to increase our production of modern capital ships for them to be able to fight in equal ground with the dreadnoughts and cruisers of the Citadel navies. We also have another tactical advantage which is that our fleet is focused on carriers instead of dreadnoughts; the fleets of the other species are in simple terms 'big guns' navies which emphasize size and firepower over the tactical use of fighters, bombers and corvettes" he explained as the hologram displayed representation of asari, turian and salarian ships in comparison to human warships.

"A few weeks ago, a stealth ship was able to infiltrate Citadel space and hack a comm buoy satellite to infiltrate the extranet, don't worry we took all the necessary precautions we are certain our intrusion would not appear not even as a glitch in the systems" he explained. "Now we have been able not only to confirm the quarian Codex Intel, but also fill the holes of misinformation. Studying the historical data and projections we have developed several war plans that constitute the core of our military reforms" he confirmed.

"**War Plan Case Red**: Direct confrontation with the Turians. The Turian Hierarchy is the largest military force in the known galaxy; they field the largest fleet and the greatest number of dreadnoughts. Their ground forces are also highly trained and discipline, but their set of tactics makes them predictable."

"Their military doctrine is based on Blitzkrieg lighting war and assault making use of a combine arms approach and superior firepower and overwhelming force. Our contra measures are based on a defensive doctrine on the ground; an endurance strategy in preparation for an eventual counter attack by selected forces and carefully planned attacks on the enemy supply lines, headquarters, communications and organizational structure. In orbit our ships can take advantage of the rift gate technology to adopt better formations and maintain attacks at range with our carriers and dreadnoughts."

"**War Plan Case Blue**: War with the Asari. Asari forces in the ground make use of hit and run tactics and ambushes; emphasizing individual initiative and Special Forces. The asari mastery of biotics in their commandos makes them extremely dangerous and unpredictable. When fighting the asari on the ground occupying forces have no choice but to spread themselves thinly, guarding everything as heavily as they can. Then, the asari destroy those guard units which drains the strength of the enemy forces with each loss until they are compelled to make one of three unpalatable choices. Withdraw completely, bleed to death by a thousand cuts, or try to continue to occupy asari territory as they are reduced, squad by squad, to a size where they can be destroyed by the asari in a traditional battle.

"This mindset is also expressed in their space warfare; asari ships are designed with two mass effect cores instead of one: An asari fleet can use one ship's core to FTL jump into a system, fire everything they have and retreat in minutes using the other mass effect core while the first is still recharging."

"Our best approach to engage the asari forces is to use our own special forces and our plasmid and biotic enforcers to fight their elite commandos. While on space we also can make use of hit and run tactics with the rift gates."

"Fortunately, a war with the asari is very unlikely as they are a civilization that prefers diplomacy and often only use military force for defensive purposes or as a show of force to bring the opposing force into the negotiation table" he made a pause. "I will prefer not to fight them; I don't know how many of our soldiers could hesitate to fire, when having one of those blue skin beauties in their crosshairs."

A few laughs came from the group, as the admiral made a pause before continuing.

"**War Plan Case Green**: Shadow war with the salarians. The salarians are the most secretive species within the Council species; they prefer preemptive strikes on the enemy before making use of espionage, counterintelligence, sabotage and advanced technology to cripple the enemy before they are ready to counter their offensives."

"I don't need to tell that our best approach when dealing with them is to conduct our own operations of espionage and counterintelligence, fighting shadows with shadows. We have a few advantages like our use of stealth ships to conduct cover operations and our possession of AI technology to shield our systems from intrusion."

He made a pause looking back at the assembly.

"While the Citadel races present the most immediate threat we have also developed three other plans of operations in case of war with the other mayor military powers of the galaxy: War Plan Yellow for the Batarians; War Plan Orange for the Krogans; War Plan Crimson for the Terminus Systems and War Plan Grey for the Geth" the admiral made a pause before adopting an even more serious expression. "In the case of total war with the Citadel or an unstoppable force with superior technology and numbers, we have designed an ultimate last resort plan of operations to conduct warfare and hold the line against tremendous odds: War Plan Case Black" he explained.

"In any case all of those plans required a substantial change of military and colonial operations and an increase on the state budget for both of them" he sentenced, signaling the General to speak now.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" General Zhukov began. "As you know our colonization procedures for the last decades has been through the use of a single layout: the axial colony Hub" the general waved his hand towards the hologram of a colony city constructed around a single building surrounded by arcologies that served as the first self-sustainable structures and residential complex of the new colony. The Colony Hub contains a Singularity Core to provide energy to the colony and a massive rift gate portal connected at first to any spaceship in orbit and then to the station in geostationary orbit over the settlement" he explained.

"Before the discovery of mass effect and rift gate technology it was theorized that the most efficient way to exploit a colony in another planet and sustain a space faring infrastructure was through the construction of a space elevator or "space tether", an immense structure use to ferry large loads of materials into space, as transporting materials into space through space ships was a colossal waste of fuel and energy in every journey" he explained.

"The rift portals in our colony hubs have allow us to save tremendous resources by allowing us to transport supplies or materials from orbit to the ground or vice versa, with the raw materials extracted or the products of the colony to be transported into space in an instant" he pointed to the rest of the city.

"Out axial cities were designed to be the epicenter for each colonization effort in a planet; and they can also be the main shelter and fortress for the colonies to retreat in case of invasion by a hostile force" he made a pause before continuing. "The first step in galactic war doctrine is complete orbital supremacy; no army in the ground can sustain long if they are being attack from orbit and the enemy has complete control of the sky above them" he explained.

"Building fixed perimeters and defenses is also a waste but unlike the known races of the galaxy we are not only in possession of the rift gate technology but also the tachyon shielding, the Alliance Engineering Corps has been working on a project for a defensive shield around an entire city. By building a hadron collider beneath our colonies and a singularity reactor in the center of them we can create an impassible force field capable of shielding an entire city from orbital attack" he sentenced. "I am not going to lie, the cost of building those structures is not going to be cheap but our main colony cities will be completely safe from orbital bombardment or natural disasters like meteor showers" he concluded.

"Also we will need to implement several changes regarding our ground troops and forces" the Admiral added. "The fleet and its vessels will be under the jurisdiction of Fleet Command or Fleet-Com for short acting as our first line of defense against external or internal aggressions; the fleet will be the primary branch of service receiving support of distinct component services like the Alliance Marine Corps and the Alliance Star fighter corps" he explained.

"And as for our ground forces based on the result of simulations we believe is best to divide our available ground forces into three separate component services, all under the oversight of Land Force Command or Land-Com" the General declared.

"The colonial guard will be the main garrison for our colonies and outpost; the Colonial Militia will be voluntary service for regular colonist designed to act as an auxiliary force for the Guard; while also encompassing all auxiliary security forces: police, firefighters, SWAT units, national guard for example" he explained. "The last will be the Army Corps, to act as our main attack force to liberate colonies or engage in counter offensive operations" he sentenced.

"Finally we will need to provide a larger deal of funding and reach for the ASB (Alliance Security Bureau) to conduct our intelligence services efficiently" the general added. "The ASB will be our main defense against incursions by the salarians or hackings by the geth and other synthetic alien life forms" he explained.

"Impressive work gentlemen" the Prime Minister declared. "The military is the spear head of the Alliance, our first and last line of defense in case of alien hostility, but a spear is only as strong as the person who wields it" he declared. "Our population, industry, society and technologies are the living force of the alliance; so now what does the civilian authorities have to provide us with the strength we need to take our place among the stars" he asked.

The secretaries of states and the rest of the assembly exchanged looks.

The secretary of treasury a woman of German origin was the first to take the word. "Well Prime Minister, our economy is strong, we hold dominion over hundreds of colonies and outpost but the changes and modernizations of our military and infrastructure will mean a serious stranglehold on our society and economy" Secretary Weber explained.

"I agree with Secretary Weber" the secretary of colonial and rift transit affairs declared. "We need to improve the infrastructure of our outer colonies before commencing this set of reforms; while the rift gate technology has allowed us to maintain control and ensured colonization of planets and systems out of the reach of the phase gates and normal FTL travel, it is not without limits" he said as he imputed his own commands on the holographic display, showing now a constellation of dots connected by lines that represented the relay and rift gate connections.

"The most distant outer colonies are only connected by rift gates connected to other outer colonies, the journey between system to system until reaching the most developed and populated colonies is not without cost and time" he explained. "Increasing pressure on the outer planets will only serve to increase tension and economic unbalance between the outer and central colonies" he explained.

The next person to took the word was the secretary of state for Energy and Industry, her name was Danielle Huang, she was more an architect and engineer than a Politian that was one of the reasons why Prime Minister Sinclair like her.

"Members of the assembly; the Alliance Engineering Corps may have a solution for our problems regarding transit and colonial infrastructure" she started explaining as the holographic table began displaying the shape of a single rift gate. "As you know each of our rift gates are designed as hadron colliders making use of singularity cores to generate enough energy to bend the fabric of space within the center of the circle; creating a temporary gateway between one set of coordinates and the other for our ships and crews to travel" she explained.

"The same can be said about the rift portals their smaller versions, which are only able to connect distances of miles, not light years. Here stands the greatest trait of the rift gates, the greater is the energy impute the larger is the distance; for example the Rift Gate 01 in orbit of Luna standing almost 1,5 kilometers of diameters is only capable of generating enough energy to open a passage to Rift Gate 02 in Proxima Centauri for an hour before closing the rift and allowing the singularity cores to recharge. If we increase the distance between coordinates with the same rift gate, the duration of the passage is shorter" she continued.

"A Delta Type Rift gate standing 6 kilometers of diameter; four times larger than an Alpha Rift gate like 01 and with several times the energy generation can create a passage to coordinates much farer than an Alpha Rift Gate; following the same principle" she explained. "The problem is that the larger rift gates are obviously more expensive and incompatible with the smaller types: a 6 km rift gate cannot connect with a 1,5 or 2 kilometers rift gate" she added, as a new object appeared on the display, this one was a sight only seen before in the quarian codex and extranet: The Citadel station.

"What we refer to as the phase gates and the citadel races call mass relays were built as a network connecting clusters that in other cases would have taken centuries to traverse using conventional mass effect FTL propulsion; but their paths are hardly random, there are systems were multiple mass relays connect; none of them more critical than the Widow Nebula containing the Citadel; the seat of the so call galactic government and the mass relay nexus" she declared.

"Okay, we all know this Miss Huang" the Prime Minister stated. "Now, how does any of this help us?" he asked.

"Sir, we need our own Nexus, a rift gate Nexus were every rift gate could be connected and the flow of traffic, resources, information and military forces could be directed" she declared to the surprise of the room.

"Like the one in orbit of Jupiter?" General Zhukov asked.

"NO" she answered. "Not a group of rift gates that can only connect to the immediate system within their reach and compatibility" she explained, as she introduced new commands on the console.

The holographic display began to show a structure like a space station with several rift gates of various sizes connected to a central body.

"This was a project for a colossal station that worked as an energy generator core capable of powering multiple rift gates and enable them to connect to impressive distances" she explained. "The project was discarded as the cost for such construction were far beyond the advantages it could provide; but building a superstructure capable of powering rift gates that could connect to any point of the Alliance or the galaxy we achieve complete territorial control both economic and military" she explained. "Empires are built through their dominion of technology: the Roman and Mongol empires had roads, the British Empire had ships and North America had the Atomic bomb; we have the rift gates" she declared.

"Very impressive presentation Secretary Huang but the price for such a structure, this rift gate nexus would be beyond the accepted limits of the Alliance economy" the Secretary of treasury declared. "We already have too much expense in defense and infrastructure even without the reforms the military and you are requiring" she explained, but Danielle Huang smiled at that.

"That is the point secretary, we don't need to build to rift gate nexus because we already have one and one far larger than the version I have shown you" everyone looked at her surprised.

"Beg your pardon, Secretary Huang" the Prime Minister asked. "I do not remember any project of the scale you are saying in the history of the Alliance" he declared.

"I am not referring to a human construction sir" she answered, as a new shape appeared on the blue hologram display; a giant ring containing eight petals like structures.

"This structure was found by the SSV Iwo Jima three months ago" she explained. "Originally referred as the Jotunheim Alien Construct, it was left in the care of the Alliance Xeno Archeological Foundation and the Alliance Engineering Corps" she declared.

"After months of study they have confirmed that twelve thousand years ago, one gas giant in orbit of Jotunheim the colossal blue star of the system reached enough mass to turn itself into a brown dwarf a middle term between a hydrogen gas giant and a star, a byproduct of that event was a spike in gravitational forces at an immense scale that practically shattered several planets through the system creating a huge asteroid belt" she explained. "One of those planets was inhabited by an alien race which lacking any FTL technology to abandon the system. They were left with no other choice than to fuse their space stations and ships together living in a confined environment for centuries harvesting the asteroids and mineral deposits in them to expand their construct; their superstation" she made a pause.

"We do not know how long they lasted there, but the station was finally abandon nine thousand years ago, may be they were able to leave the system using conventional propulsion ships or maybe generations of living in artificial G and radiation finally destroyed them, whatever was their fate; their construct is a marvel of engineering" she declared.

"The single largest artificial structure in the known galaxy, putting even the Citadel in shame" she declared with excitement.

"I would like to show you the newest and most ambitious and massive undertaking in human history: Project Erebus" she explained with a smile on her face.

"Erebus?" one member of the Assembly asked.

"In Greek mythology Erebus was one of the primordial deities, born out of the primeval void, Chaos. It was the personification of the deep darkness and shadows" she explained. "It was the name the Engineering corps gave to the construct" she made a pause as she took a deep breath.

"We can rebuilt this superstation, create our own Citadel; also by building a hadron collider in the inner ring with Neutron-Antimatter cores we can generate as much energy as a supernova with enough energy output to power a thousand rift gates to one side of the galaxy to the other" she declared, as everyone in the room began talking to one another in hushed tones or loud voices in equal measure.

"Such an undertaking would be tremendous and it could last years or even decades before coming into fruition" the secretary of treasury commented.

"But the military advantage of holding such a strategic resource and advantage could be unconceivable; we could deploy entire fleets and armies in one side of the Alliance in the blink of an eye" the Admiral stated.

"This project could very well be the first step towards the future of the Alliance and mankind; for years this committee has been discussing the prospect of transferring the Parliament and Prime Minister office to Arcturus Station, as well as the headquarters for the fleet" the Prime Minister said.

"But the Arcturus Stream is vulnerable to any enemy offensives as it is connected to multiple mass relays; an enemy force determined or large enough to break through our defenses could attack the station and decapitate the entire Alliance government with a single stroke without even attacking Earth or our mayor colonies; but controlling a station of such scale and with the ability to become the central Nexus for our economy and military could be an enormous advantage over our rivals" he declared.

"We will work on the prospect of beginning Project Erebus later, now I will to hear the projects suggested by the rest of my secretaries" he ordered.

First it was the secretary of Home Affairs who had been studying projections of population growth and was suggesting providing incentives to encourage multiple births at various colonies to reach the numbers of population of the Citadel species, whose space dominions have existed for centuries.

Second there was the secretary of Health and the secretary of Genetic Enhancements who provided a new health plan in various colonies.

Third it was the Secretary of Synthetic Life who was working alongside consultants from the mayor Synth technology corporations as well as synth and AI organizations to improve the conditions of the synth segment of the Alliance population; and maintain the good relationships between humanity and her creations.

The Secretary of Transport was also endorsing the Erebus project calling it the new crossroad of the Alliance.

The Secretary of Education has shown several new programs and an increase of internships into the Alliance Engineering Corps and Fleet, among other state institutions. The new civil service in the colonies would also require resources and personal.

The Secretary of Environment was showing the reports of progress or delay in the worlds still in process of terraformation.

The Secretary of Culture and Media was the first to ask when the Prime Minister and Parliament were going to reveal the encounter in Kaldir with the quarians to the public.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs was the one who revealed the elephant in the room which all were trying to avoid: The fate of the rachni.

While the report of the surviving rachni queen and her colony has been sent to them months ago, no one was sure about what to do with the insect like aliens in the colony of Nar-Sara. According to the historical Codex they were the oldest and most feared enemy of the Citadel Council and they have completely eradicated (well almost completely) for good reasons.

But the trust shown by the lilim operative Masha Lutz on the Rachni queen and her children was something to considered.

"The rachni could be our greatest weapon against the Council or others alien nations, lab reports have already confirm that even the smallest rachni worker is a sentient intelligent being" the deputy minister explained. "We need them as allies" he sentenced.

"I agree, among the Citadel races there are several species who have client states in other species; the Turians and Volus; or the Hanar and Drells" the secretary of foreign affairs explained. "Humanity needs allies, and they could be one" he declared.

"What about the quarians?" another member of the assembly asked, drawing the looks of the entire room to him. "They are in dire need of help and we could provide them support in exchange for information and tech assistance" he suggested.

"The total quarian population is of 18 million, traveling in thousands of ancient ships, not to mention that they are all in Citadel or Terminus space" Admiral Fontaine explained. "Contacting them could be risky; bringing them into the fold could be problematic, and giving them the resources to help themselves and then us would be extremely costly. And we do not know if we can trust them, the rachni could be less "humanoid" but they could be more useful in the long term" he explained.

"The rachni could very well be our greatest threat, they multiply faster than rabbits and they move and think like a single swarm. Once their numbers are greater than ours what will prevent them from attacking us?" General Zhukov confronted.

"We already have a latent threat in the heart of the Alliance which is our population of AIs and Synths, if we reveal the quarian codex to the public the historical data regarding the history of the geth and their rebellion could shatter the relations between the human population and the synthetics" the secretary of home affairs explained. "And give voice to the anti-synthetic collectives all around the Alliance" he added.

"It is true" the Deputy Prime Minister took the word. "That is why we need the rachni, the AIs and synths are some of our greatest assets against an unknown galaxy, we need them, but they do not completely need us, we have existed in symbiosis for decades but if the time comes when a rebellion erupts we will need something to help us fight. The rachni Hive could become the first client species of humanity and the Alliance; and our honored allies against threats from beyond or within" he declared.

Several people nodded, including the Prime Minister who signaled a servant to serve them champagne.

"Well its seems, that through our actions we will shape the future of mankind and perhaps the galaxy" he declared. "Let's make sure that there shall be a bright future for our children and their children" he said as he raised his glass.

"For Earth, for the Alliance and for the future" he sentenced. "Terra Aeternum"

"TERRA AETERNUM" everyone said in unison as they raised their glasses

XXXXX

**Timeline:**

**August 2108 –** The events of 3/12 in Kaldir regarding the encounter with the quarian crew and the engagement with the batarian pirate crew are revealed to the public. The information regarding the Citadel Council and its species is made public knowledge, with much of the historical data uploaded into the Alliance civilian net, the Waypoint.

Prime Minister Augustus Sinclair gives a rousing speech proclaiming a new era for mankind and a new stage for the Alliance. Intending to prevent any new distrust between humans and synthetics, he declares that the Terran Alliance stands as a unique power among the nations of the galaxy. That despite all their fears and the events that led the downfall of the protheans and the quarians, humanity has been able to coexist with their synthetic creations in a symbiotic relation that has enabled the entire Terran society to grow and progress for that. And that unlike the other races of the galaxy the human species has not only built their nation over the creations and ruins of the Prothean Empire, but through their own labor and ingenuity; they have broken the confinements of the mass effect technology.

Reaction all around Alliance space is mix: riots, public demonstrations and open debates spread like wildfire; but the initial shock slowly begins to fade in the next few months. For many the existence of the Citadel Council and other alien powers is more than enough reason for the Parliament and Prime Minister to rally and unite the different factions and tiers of human society, in purpose and cooperation.

**January 2109 –** The Rachni Hive under the control of Queen Maia is released from confinement and after a successful evacuation of all the non-essential human personal, complete sovereignty over the planet of Nar Sara is granted to the nascent alien nation. Masha Lutz and several other lilims are called upon to serve as interpreters.

**April 2109 -** Project Erebus is approved by the Executive and the Parliament, dozens of human corporations and thousands of scientist and engineers flow to the construct in the Jotunheim System to begin operations. Construction of the rift gate nexus in the scaffolds and the super antimatter neutron core in the inner ring begins.

**September 2109 –** Several of the reforms in military doctrine and training are put in place; the Alliance increases the recruitment of Biotics and implementation of genetic and cybernetic enhancements.

**May 2110 – **In various colonies the construction of the taquion shielding defense perimeter and shelters is completed, in the mayor colonies it is still under way while in the newest colonies the layout for the axial defensive cities constitutes the base for the colonization programs.

**July 2110 –** After the birth of new queens in the rachni adoptive world Nar-Sara the Rachni Empress Maia request through the Lilims interpreters the position of client species of the Terran Systems Alliance.

**August 2110 – **The Rachni Hive is accepted as a client state and ally nation of the Terran Alliance. The secretary of foreign affairs handles the transition with the aid of the Order of interpreters, the lilims acting as ambassadors.

Receiving a small cluster of habitable planets and authorization for a limited expansion the Rachni Hive begins rebuilding its nation. In exchange for the colonial rights, aid and protection the Rachni agreed to provide support for the Alliance heavy industry and military.

**November 2110 –** In order to improve the condition of the Colony of Shinon, one of the most populated and conflicted planets on the Alliance, the secretary of colonial and transit affairs begins working in expanding the infrastructure of the colony with the aid of several synthetic specialize corporations.

**June 2111 –** Cyberline Corporation the mayor synthetic conglomerate joins with Ryan-Fontaine Industries in expanding their industry and operations in Shinon; with state funding a program of industrialization and sustainable colonization is implemented.

**December 2111 – **In the colony of Praxis a new economic boom as a result of the immense deposits of element zero increases the colony standing within the Alliance greater economy; yet the Praxian independent party also gains traction in the colonial government's election because of this relations between the wealthiest human colony and the rest of the Alliance become problematic.

Several new rift gates are positioned in the Sigma Scorpio System (praxis), to connect the colony with the other main clusters of the Alliance.

**February 2112 –** The first rift gate nexus in the Erebus construct is finished, with the inner ring serving as hadron collider for making antimatter particles and the station core synthetizing Hyper Neutron particles; the largest singularity energy core is activated. With energy output going beyond the scale, four rift gates connecting to the most distant coordinates of the Alliance space are stabilized, even allowing several ships to cross and travel for hours.

With the success of the tests, the investment and work on the construct are increased. The official name for the construct is finally voted and revealed to the public: The Erebus Nexus, the new intersection of all rift gates.

**September 2112 –** Making use of technologies and engineering techniques first implemented in the city of Rapture, a habitable city segment in the most intact Pylon of the Erebus Nexus is declared ready for settlement; a massive wave of settlers primarily families of the engineers and scientists working on the construct arrives on the station by the end of the month.

**January 2115 –** After a long debate and careful planning the Erebus Nexus is formally proclaimed as the new capital of the Terran Alliance. The station now holding a population of 2 million with some of the best minds of humanity amongst them begins to flourish. Soon the Jotunheim system becomes the most transited area of all Alliance space surpassing Earth, Praxis, Chiron and Arcturus put together. The new Parliament, the Central Ministry, Main Court and the General Assembly are established in the construct.

With its new importance as the capital and rift gate nexus the station becomes the official headquarters for the Alliance Second Fleet, with military analysts classifying the construct as the most strategically important site in all of Alliance space.

**March 2116 –** The Alliance pushes for a new wave of survey, expansion and colonization. Refer to as the "Third Wave" survey missions are limited by a new virtual border of operations known as "Sinclair Protocol". The Protocol states that those systems within Citadel space and relay connections to them are classified as off limits, in order to prevent any unplanned discovery by hostile alien species before a substantial consolidation of the Alliance.

**June 2116 – **On Earth at the streets of New York, Rapture, Hong Kong and several other cities thousands of synths march alongside human supporters reclaiming a greater deal of equal rights for AIs and non-organic life.

**July 2116 – **The charter of synthetic rights is approved by the Alliance Parliament: The charter establishes that all AI or synth can achieve status of complete citizenship with all the rights and duties if they have enough years of experience and have completed several test of empathy, intelligence and determination to prove themselves worthy of the title "Terran" as a term that not only encompasses humans anymore but also every individual of humanity and her creations.

**October 2118 –** A legion of rachni workers helps to build the newest dreadnought of the Alliance Fleet the SSV Kilimanjaro at the docks of Hades Prime. The news help to cement the status of the Rachni Hive as the Alliance first ally alien state and client race.

**December 2118 –** Sixteen new colonies are established with a continuous flow of settlers and supplies coming through the Erebus Nexus towards the new colonies. The most populated of them Hoysala founded by the Republic of India becomes the new capital of the Cthulhu Cluster.

**April 2119 –** The Rachni and their lilim interpreters open an embassy in the Erebus Nexus.

**May 2119 –** The Hypatia Academy an orbital station over Columbia serving as a specialized school for biotics, lilims and tech experts is inaugurated; the newest line of biotic and neural implants is provided to the new students.

**June 2120 – **For reasons of security, as the rift gate technology is perhaps humanity's greatest asset the entirety of the rift gates and facilities designed to produce them are declared state property under the direct oversight of the Ministry of Colonial and Rift Transit Affairs.

The planet Hephaestus a volcanic world with extraordinary deposits of rare minerals and heavy metals located in the Rialis System becomes the main rift gate forge in the Alliance with the property rights of the facilities and mining outpost transferred to the state authority.

**July 2120 –** New protocols of electronic warfare defense and technological recovery failsafe are installed in every new and existent rift gate. If a rift gate is in risk of being captured and its technology recovered by other alien species then an anti-proton pulse is deployed to not only self-destruct the rift gate but also eradicate any trace of technology.

**February 2124 – **In Praxis a peaceful march of nationalist praxian independents protesters almost erupts into a riot when a single protester draws a side gun and opens fire on the police, resulting in the police launching riot foam to the crowd and proceeds to the arrest of dozens of people.

The subsequent police investigation reveals that the leader of the independent party Frank Gorland machinated the entire chaotic situation to give more credibility to his cause; the revelation causes confusion and conflicts all around Praxis, Frank Gorlands disappears after the colonial government issues an arrest warrant on him.

In order to prevent more conflicts from overrunning the wealthiest colony in the Alliance, the Parliament and General Assembly grants the planet a greater degree of sovereignty.

**March 2124 – **The semi-independent Praxian Directorate is established, with the colonial government transitioning into a new stratocracy inspired by the Alliance's General Assembly, with the General Committee acting as the new executive institution of the Praxian state.

**November 2124 –** The Erebus Nexus construction operations are declared as 46% complete but the cost of those building operations have resulted in a massive drain on the Alliance's economy. The population on the station reaches the 8,5 million inhabitants.

**January 2125 –** As the Alliance celebrates the New Year, new colonial projects and infrastructure programs are initiated.

**May 2136-** The construction of a new generation of warships, codename Project Yigdrasil begins. One particular trait of these new warships is the use of organic components in their subsystems, like a neural network synthesize from ADAM cells and using EVE as an energy transfer fluid to enhance energy base weapons as well as kinetic barriers and tachyon shields.

**October 2143**\- A new wave of expansion and colonization are authorized by the General Assembly.

-The Colony of Shanxi is founded

**July 2145** – Human Population reaches the 17 billion inhabitants all across the Alliance.

-.

**And the new chapter is finished, it is here were this new story diverts from the original. I hope you have enjoyed it so far as it was mostly a chapter detailing the history and plans of the Alliance instead of battles and adventure.**

**Next chapter will be the beginning of the first contact war with some changes from the original story.**


	5. Chapter 4: Knocking the wrong door

**Chapter 4: Knocking the wrong door**

**I have made some modifications in order to explain and correct the plot holes in the first encounter between the humans and turians I hope you are enjoying this new version of the story.**

Faber est quisque fortunae suae

"Every man is architect of his own fortune"

XXXXX

**2155.06.08 **

**Quinhai: Capital of the colony of Shanxi**

**Lambda Expanse**

In the largest conference room of the Colonial government building the three most important civilian leaders of Shanxi have gathered to decide on a critical project for the expansion of their colony world the activation of the Fujian-Alpha outer relay, a galactic map was being projected in the center as the man on the head of the table looked at an electronic pad in his hand containing an executive order with a space at the bottom reserved for his signature.

"So we have green light with this?" the Governor asked. "We are on dangerous terrain in here, opening a relay to uncharted space is not like placing a rift gate" he declared.

"I know that Governor Wu, my company works by requesting placement of rift gates" Chairman Liu of the Changhong Colony Development Company answered. "According to the mass relays maps from the Mars Archives we have determined that there is a relay connection on the other side of the Fujian-Alpha outer relay, the quarians maps provided by the Ministry of Colonial and rift transit affairs have confirmed that there is one non active relay at the other side of the Fujian Delta outer relay" he explained before making a pause.

"There is no risk of breaking the Sinclair Protocol, the neighbor cluster is undiscovered, and the relay connecting to Citadel space is inactive" he explained. "Just imagine it, an entire cluster of undiscovered worlds and systems filled with resources. Not to mention the prospect at the long term of controlling a system directly on the relay border of Citadel Space, it will be the staging point for any future trading and border colonies; Shanxi's importance will be multiply by ten" he declared.

"I agree with Chairman Liu, governor" the third man Representative Mateusz Joeng the official liaison with the Earth Chinese government said. "Controlling the neighboring cluster will help to increase the political standing of the Chinese people in the Parliament and the reach of Shanxi and you within the General Assembly" the Representative explained.

The Governor was in deep though, looking back at the map with the system of Shanxi Fujian-Alpha in the center and the rest of the relays and rift connections around it. He knew that both men were telling the truth; the next cluster was uncharted space apparently, with two relays: one in Citadel space and the other in the Shanxi colony's system both of them inactive.

The Prothean maps recovered at the Mars Archives detailed the relay positions during the age of Prothean Empire, after the prothean extinction the relays had been repositioned by someone or something, most likely the synthetic reapers to connect the systems of the still young races to the most prominent uninhabited garden class worlds.

By overlaying the prothean maps with the contemporary galaxy maps from the quarian codex and the human star charts they could determine through a process of elimination which relays were still inactive, connecting to minor systems and clusters without risk of encountering alien life or crossing borders.

Through this system the Alliance has activated several relays leading to "dead end systems" as it stands to call those systems with only one primary or secondary relay, in other words, systems like Sol without any "back door". These systems were the primary objective in the Alliance relay expansion policy, as they presented no risk of being discovered by the Citadel space while even if they contained no garden worlds or exploitable resources, they could be used as a staging point to survey and develop entire clusters after the placement of rift gates in the most promising systems.

Shanxi was a minor colony, not even an outer planet it was a frontier world with less than three million inhabitants, even though it had been the primary planet from which the Lambda Expanse cluster was discover and claim after the activation of the Shanxi-Theta relay, its position in the cluster has been surpassed on recent years by the colony of New Indus in the Fujian-Delta system approximately 10 light years from Fujian-Alpha.

New Indus was a world rich in minerals and minor deposits of eezo even though its climate was of high temperatures and low atmosphere pressure, and India has invested a fortune in the development of their new colony. With the placement of two rift gates in the Fujian-Delta system most of the transit has been diverted from Shanxi to New Indus. The Chinese government responsible for the sponsoring of their colony of Shanxi has done nothing to improve the situation as they were already busy with the development of Shinon now the most populated colony in the Alliance.

By opening the relay to the new undiscovered cluster the colony of Shanxi could attract a new wave of investment and attention, also ensuring new stages of development and population increase.

There was nothing to lose and everything to win.

"All right" he sighted and conceded. "This is my home, I want to see it grow" he declared in a tired tone as he signed the official document and put his fingerprint in the key pad giving his complete authorization.

"Besides my signature and yours, I will also need the authorization of a high ranking military officer, either Commodore Meltzer or General Williams" Representative Joeng explained. "Which one do you consider it is the most likely to provide a swift clearance?" he asked.

"General Williams is a hard man career military soldier he would not sign this unless there is absolute certainty that there is no danger to Shanxi and the Alliance; but Commodore Meltzer she has the spirit of an explorer, it would take some convincing but you may be able to get her clearance" the governor explained.

"Thank you governor" the representative said before adopting a friendly smile. "Your efforts to your nation and colony will be rewarded" he declared as he stood and prepared to leave with Chairman Liu following him.

As both men left with the door of the office closing behind them, Governor Wu looked back through the window towards his city with a feeling of apprehension yet also excitement; if they find planets with resources on the other side of the relay the economic boom of Shanxi would be instantaneous. He could run for reelection and win on a landslide or simple retire of the post with a greater political clout, go back to Earth and work in a position within the elite of the Chinese Government or go to Erebus to work with the Alliance General Assembly.

_I am going to miss this quiet world; it's boring but quiet and beautiful, not like Shanghai and its ghettos. I just hope I am doing the best for me and the colony._

-.

**2155.06.10**

**Quinhai, Military Headquarters**

**Lambda Expanse**

"Today on the ANN we bring you the latest news of the outer colonies" a female voice spoke as several announcements crossed the screen.

"On the planet of Hoysala, main colony world on the Cthulhu cluster, a new exhibition of Modern Art is being held on the capital city of Karma, thousands of visitors are expected to attend, amongst them some of the Alliance's most prominent citizens."

"Karlene Cohen, the most trending singer on Shinon has announced the beginning of a new tour through the Inner Colonies"

"The world of Alainsijam has begun an expansion of Iridium and Platinum mining operations, with the Aitifaq Mining Consortium taking the lead on the market, the stock price of the company increased after the discovery of a massive Platinum deposit in the main continent of the planet."

"The Chinese and Rapturian governments have started a joint agrarian development on the Chinese colony of Chóngsheng. Also notorious scientist Emil Suchong descendant of the legendary Rapturian genius and pioneer of ADAM genetic molding Yi Suchong has established his lab on Chóngsheng's capital."

"In orbit of the planet of Wakanda a colony funded by the South African state, the Morrigan Gate Forge, an orbital construction yard of Rift Gates second only in size and production by the Hefaestus Gate Forge on the Rialis system; has completed the construction of the first Zigma 2 class Rift Gate: An 8 kilometer diameter Rift Gate with new neutron – antimatter cores and top of the line computer processors, the Zigma 2 class gate can increase the distance between two light years distant connected points by 400% according to the director of the Morrigan Gate Forge Station."

As he finished reading the top news, his data wrist beeped and a report detailing the activities of the science team studying the inactive relay on the edge of the system appeared on the holographic screen. He sighted, the Changhong Colony Development Company Chairman and the Assembly Representative have managed to convince Commodore Meltzer to sign the clearance to activate the outer relay, he had no arguments to convince her otherwise, she was simply bored and wanted to shake things up, and exploring an undiscovered new cluster was just that.

On the Fujian-Alpha System General George Williams was the CO of the Shanxi garrison while Commodore Lillian Meltzer was the CO of the defense flotilla, as the two main military officers on the system, they maintained a professional respect and understanding, but it was hard not to butt heads from time to time.

It was just frustrating to oversee military training and exercises in a world so boring, even in Eden Prime there was more activity.

Besides General Williams and Commodore Meltzer were practically opposites of each other, she was in her mid-thirties while the General was nearly fifty: General George Williams was a career military man with a lot of experience under his belt in dozens of combat scenarios and peace keeping operations, with a lot of respect in the ranks of the Alliance Land Force Command but he was not well liked by many high ranking officers in the navy or in the Alliance Engineering Corps. Ending as CO of Shanxi's garrison had been more a demotion than a promotion, it was like sending an experienced city cop to a tranquil god forgotten little town; you could paint it as a vacation but it was simple boring hell.

Commodore Meltzer on the other hand was young and eager to prove herself in the field; respected amongst the young navy flag officers and well-liked by her crewmen and fellow officers.

They came from very different origins; he was earthborn from an old and much respected family, already married with two sons and a daughter; while the Commodore was a third generation colony kid without any family other than her father apparently. The only thing they shared was their mutual dislike for their posts on Shanxi, a Chinese colony far away from everything and relying on two westerners to defend it.

In truth; westerner or oriental were outdated tittles for any inhabitant of the Alliance, which was a macro culture and cosmopolitan super nation but as the colonies have been claimed by different countries there were still some attachments to the old national identities from Earth. The newest and smallest colonies were mostly subordinate to the flow of settlers and investment from their sponsor nations, while the oldest and largest colonies have become joint ventures under the whole of the Alliance.

Also in the Terran Alliance English was the lingua franca of the super nation but through Alliance space dozens of Earth languages were still spoken by the populations of the colonies; primarily English, Spanish, Chinese, Arab and Hindi. As Shanxi was a small colony only few segments of the population spoke English, the great majority of them only spoke Chinese, with the signs and writings through the city and settlements also in the oriental writing. He was thankful that the translator in his data-tool was allowing him to understand and translate his speech to Chinese or his job would have been impossible.

He was hoping the governor was right and the activation of the relay would bring a new wave of activity and investment; and perhaps some excitement as well.

_Maybe I should just retire and go home to my family back on Earth; I cannot bring them here as they would just bore themselves to death. _He pondered about his family and his eldest son still in the military academy on Earth following his old man footsteps.

_I just hope he meets a nice girl in there, perhaps start giving me some goddamn grandchildren one day._

-.

**2155.06.10**

**Serpent Nebula, Citadel Council Chambers**

Councilor Tevos was trying hard not to fall sleep after another long rhetoric of the Volus ambassador about his people deserving a seat on the Council.

_This is getting old, so many decades on my position as representative of the Asari Republic and nothing changes, for once I envy the goddess be damn Salarians._

The Turian Councilor Prateus a former military also shared her tiredness, and he seemed to be holding down the impulse to throw the Volus Ambassador out of the airlock in order to shut him up.

After a few more minutes of Volus pride and rhetoric, even the salarian councilor Eshael, a young dalatrass with only a few months on the position also had enough.

"Ambassador please, the role of your species as the owners of the main banking and financial institutions, and your part in securing the Unified Banking Act remains in the outmost consideration by this council" The Salarian Councilor explained. "However, the requirements for a seat stand that your species should provide fleets, resources, and economic aid in case of disaster. Please understand that allowing your people into this council without being ready may affect the delicate balance in the galactic community, and its markets" she declared.

Finally that seemed to shut up the Volus at last. The short ambassador walked out the door living the council alone in the citadel tower's chambers.

"Well now pushing to actually important matters, what news about the recent incidents on the frontier with the Terminus Systems, what does the last reports of the STG say?" Tevos asked the salarian councilor.

"The raids on several colonies through the Attican Traverse have been increasing in the last month, this 'Black Fleet' as survivors on those colonies victims of attacks and raids have called it, seems to be composed of pirates and slavers from the terminus Systems equipped with highly advance technology and weaponry" Councilor Eshael explained.

"Their main line cruisers are of Batarian design according to all reports but they are equipped with a powerful direct energy weapon, similar to a mounted laser beam that can cut through the kinetic barriers of our patrol ship with relative ease" she made a pause.

"Also according to reports and recordings of space engagements those pirate ships are in possession of remarkable heat radiation dispersal gears that allows them to maintain direct ship to ship combat endurance longer than most warships" she explained.

Tevos and Prateus shared a concern look. It was not a secret that in the last few months, colonies, mining stations or scientific outpost in the Attican Traverse have been raided by an unknown force, leaving few survivors, on their wake, as a result the Council has ordered the deployment of additional patrol fleets and survey missions, while the Spectres investigate any lead regarding the activities of the 'Black Fleet'.

"It is obvious that the Batarians are behind all of this, those spirits dammed slavers, may be equipping their criminal and pirate allies with state of the art technology in order to weaken our hold on the Attican Traverse, and make us look weak to the Terminus Systems" Prateus declared with disgust on his voice.

"We still need evidence, if we are to confront them, however the Spectre assigned to the case Tela Vasir has informed me of rumors of a secret project conducted by the best scientists and military officers on Khar'shan" Tevos answered, before making a pause. "Also the Batarian ambassador has been quiet lately, the Batarian delegation has been pushing for exclusive colonization rights on the Skylian Verge for years then they suddenly cease all attempts to request an audience and push their claims forward?" she made a new pause. "I don't like it" she sentenced.

"Neither do I, it is clear that they are preparing for something" Eshael pointed out.

Tevos looked back at her salarian colleague, she noted that Eshael as a salarian dalatrass was focused and disciplined; she talked slow and normal, unlike the previous Salarian Councilor a male who talked racing through every word.

"In any case, the Primarch and I have been discussing an increase on patrol fleets at the Krogan DMZ, the last thing we need, is for any Krogan clan or Blood Pack gang to take advantage of the movement of peace keeping assets to the Attican Traverse in order to wreak havoc on Citadel Space" he explained.

Both Tevos and Eshael nodded in agreement.

-.

**2155.06.12 **

**Uncharted-Alpha System**

**Uncharted Cluster on the other side of the Shanxi outer relay**

_SSV Hastings_

_Designation: Alliance's Gergovia class Recon frigate_

_Crew: 38_

"This cannot be" Lieutenant Commander Ramirez CO of the Hastings exclaimed as the sensors confirmed her worse fears.

"I am afraid so Commander" the CIC officer answered. "The other relay is active" he explained as he pointed to the bright point on the other edge of the system.

"Shit" she turned to her XO. "Contact High Com and Shanxi let them know the Sinclair Protocol has been breach" she ordered to the officer who turned pale for a moment before running towards the Comm room.

_How could this be?_ She asked herself.

_Maybe the quarians maps were outdated and someone has activated the relay on the other side in recent years, after all the prothean maps were fifty thousand years of age and the quarian codex maps were more than forty years old._

She looked back at the display staring at the blinking image of the mass relay on the other side of the system. The gate to Citadel space and so far the only entrance to Alliance Space, if the Citadel were to send a survey group and locate the active Lambda-Zodiac relay, they would immediately conclude that there is a new undiscovered species living beyond it.

This was not supposed to happen, the Alliance's long term plan was to wait for decades or even centuries if necessary to grow and develop before engaging in first contact with the Citadel and its associated races.

After a few minutes High Com and Fleet Com answered through the Quantum Entanglement Communicator.

"Commander we have received new orders" her XO explained. "For now our orders are to maintain position and secure this system, as well as continue to monitor and determine the viability of this system" he made a pause. "Also the fleet is deploying another frigate group under the command of Commander Acardi to assist us" he finished.

"Acardi eehh?" she answered adopting a calmer smile, remembering Lt Acardi from those days in training and combat simulations.

As she looked back at the holographic display new signals came through a relay, fortunately it was from their relay and they were human ships. A dozen civilian corvettes emerged from FTL speed, part of the science survey group tasked with scanning and evaluating the system.

"Let's just do our jobs" she ordered before adopting a serious expression when looking at her crew. "Keep a close watch on the outer relay, if so much as a fly comes through that thing I want to know immediately; one way or another this system is now territory of the Terran System Alliance, and unless we are order otherwise it is our duty to defend it" she declared to a group of nods from the crew.

-.

**2155.06.14 **

**SSV Hastings; Zodiac-Alpha System**

**Zodiac Cluster on the other side of the Shanxi outer relay**

After much deliberation the Alliance survey team has decided to designate the cluster as Zodiac because of the constellations surrounding the main system. In the last two days things have surprisingly proceeded with calm, as far as they could tell it was very likely that this system has been stripped mined of resources and then abandoned completely by the Citadel races and the galactic charts all together.

Maintaining a position on this system would help the Alliance to maintain another layer of protection against the Citadel, as the enemy would be force to traverse a greater number of mass relays to reach the core of Alliance relay connected space.

Currently there were two frigate squadrons on the system guarding the science team tasked with probing the planets and asteroid fields of Zodiac-Alpha.

As she stood in the CIC with an arm resting on the holographic table and her other arm guiding a cup of hot brown coffee to her lips she looked around to her crew. Most of them looked relaxed; the initial shock of the discovery of the active outer relay and the breaching of the Sinclair protocol has mostly faded.

The SSV Hastings was an old frigate only 168 meters long; the Gergovia class has been retired from production years ago in favor of the Trafalgar class force recon frigate which was larger and more versatile than the previous class, so those Gergovia class frigates still in service were mostly relegated to survey duty or auxiliary service.

Despite all of that, Lieutenant Ramirez was proud of her ship and crew, and their service record was spotless, so she had been assigned as the commanding officer of the five unit frigate wolf pack flotilla assigned to help survey the new system.

She was hopping the Alliance would just send a whole flotilla to guard the open door to Citadel Space so she could return to her previous position with the Fifth Fleet in Arcturus

-.

A few hours have passed since the arrival of new corvette survey squadron through the Zodiac-Lambda relay and things have been quiet so far without so much as news of resources discovery coming through the comms.

Lieutenant Commander Ramirez sighed and looked at the unchanging CIC display again, observing the other group of frigates that has joined them in the defense of the newly claimed system, the wolf pack frigate squadron led by the SSV Termopylae a Trafalgar class 242 meters long Force Recon Frigate was guarding the Zodiac-Lambda relay.

The SSV Hastings and its pack were patrolling the inner system while the SSV Rio de la Plata leading corvette of the survey scientific group was stationed on the edge of the system finishing the general scan.

_This is getting dull_

The comms array light up with a warning signal and made her jump out of her boring state.

"What da hell! Contacts, multiple contacts, fifteen unknown ships have just appeared out of FTL. Not known profiles, not recognition codes, not regular heat and radiation signatures. They are not OURS!" the Comm technician declared.

_Shit! Just when I was wishing this was more interesting!_

"EVA scan those ships check known IFF and profiles from the CODEX" she asked the Engagement Virtual Assistant, VI of the Hastings."

"Scanning…" the female voice of EVA answered through the Intercom. "Scan Confirmed, Codex profiles and IFF signals classify unknown starships as Turian Hierarchy warships: six are Turian cruisers class ships; 482 meters long and the remaining nine are Turian frigates class ships; 317 meters long" EVA voiced explained through the intercom as the CIC hologram made a zoom on the alien bird shape vessels.

"Turian? Shit. We just poke the Citadel's hornet nest" Commander Ramirez said to no one in particular. "Prepare a first contact transmission" she ordered.

_The Alliance's High Command is going to flip_

"First contact transmission with language and basic historical data ready for…" the Comm technician was interrupted.

"Holy shit! Survey squad under fire! Repeat the alien ships are attacking the corvette scouting group!" another officer shouted.

"Well so much for peaceful first contact!" she made a pause and looked at the holographic representation on the CIC, there were eight corvettes on the edge of the system all of them were unarmed except for some standard Point Defense Ion Laser Guardian System.

Two of them have been destroyed under the concentrated mass accelerator weapons of the Turian frigates, the rest were heading straight to the relay in an attempt to flee. If she was to engage the Turians she could start a war between the Terran Alliance and the Citadel Council, but if she didn't those men and women from the survey group were going to die, she needed to make a choice now.

The movement of another shape on the holographic projection told her that someone has already made the choice for her. The second Wolf pack group lead by the SSV Thermopylae was moving to intercept the enemy fleet.

"Acardi what are you doing?" she asked the Commanding officer of the Thermopylae through the communicator.

"Saving human lives Lieutenant Ramirez; these aliens have proven their intentions by opening fire on unarmed ships" Lieutenant commander Acardi of the SSV Thermopylae answered.

"If you engage them, you could start a war" Ramirez answered.

"If we don't save those corvettes, the Turians could gain direct access to their computer logs and know everything about our operations even in the best case scenario or recover our entire galactic charts at worse. I have ordered my ships to engage the Cole protocol in risk of capture, and I sent a probe through the relay to warn the colony, but we must protect those guys, it is our duty" Lieutenant Commander Acardi answered.

Ramirez look back to the holographic map, and then to her crew around the CIC, her XO Lieutenant James Vikary just nodded as to make it clear that whatever choice she made, the crew would support her. She reached for the intercom and the communication with the rest of the Wolf Pack frigates.

"Frigate group, converge on the Hastings, and prepare for combat" the crew instantly jumped into action, as the illumination of the ship switched to the pale blue of combat light. "Assume formation Delta, as the Second Wolf Pack moves to engage the Turian fleet directly we will move from the side and flank them, focus your fire on the enemy frigates and maintain Formation, to coordinate the Point Defense Grid" she ordered.

Soon under the lead of the SSV Hastings, the SSV Cannae, the SSV Kursk, the SSV Verdun and the SSV Fulford assumed an arrow shape Delta formation and powered up their engines raging into combat.

The Turian flotilla maintained their pursuit of the civilian corvettes yet they reconfigured their formation when they saw the two angry frigate groups converging on them, lowering their velocity and placing their cruisers on the frontline with the frigates on the flanks.

Acardi's wolf pack soon reached the firing range of the Turian cruisers which focused their axial mass accelerator guns forward; Acardi's wolf pack however was composed of five Trafalgar class frigates, big and strong but fast and no easy target for the Turian cruisers. The mass accelerator guns were followed by a volley of torpedoes that were luckily intercepted immediately by the joint point defense grid of the Frigates.

Soon Acardi's flotilla turned from Delta into a Diamond formation and deployed their main guns. If there was a reason why the Trafalgar frigate has been so successful on the battle simulations it was the installment of the miniaturized version of the Tiamat Magnetic-Hydrodynamic Weapon. Once the leading SSV Thermopylae deployed her weapon the void was set ablaze like a blue supernova as the leading Turian cruiser was hit with a stream of superheated molten metal at relativistic velocities. The Kinetic barriers of the cruiser lasted barely a few seconds before an explosion almost cracked the cruiser in half.

As the rest of the frigates powered up their Tiamat Cannons the Turian cruiser line collapsed, with two cruisers destroyed and the remaining three heavily damage.

The Turian frigates rushed in and began to engage Arcadi's wolf pack, but at that moment Ramirez's flotilla cut their way in. Hitting them with their mounted mass accelerator weapons and deploying their disruptor torpedoes while the only remaining operational Turian cruiser in the center of the alien group shattered formation attempting to aid its frigate escort group to fight the enemy.

"Status!" Ramirez demanded on her CIC.

"Two more Turian frigates destroyed, but the Kursk and Fulfort are reporting heavy damage, their kinetic barriers are below 30% and most of their weapons have been rendered out of operation"

"Understood assume attack pattern Wagon wheel, we need to surround the remaining cruiser and keep on the tail of the enemy frigates. I doubt the Turian ships have their weapons coming out of their asses" she declared with the smile of a crazy or drunk woman, small laughter crossed the CIC despite the seriousness of the situation. "What of the corvette survey group?" she asked.

"They are only a few minutes from the mass relay" the comm technician answered, while Ramirez accessed the Communication with the Thermopylae.

"Acardi, the scout group is safe, we need to leave now and warn the colony and the Allian…" She was interrupted when the SSV Cannae exploded right next to them; a shot coming from a mass accelerator weapon of at least 50 kilotons of power has annihilated her with a single shot.

"Commander, we have confirmation approximately a hundred new signals coming out of the outer relay, on the edge of the system and one Turian Dreadnought class ship is leading them, a single shot from that 892 meters long monster can tear us apart. We need to move now" the Comm technician shouted in shock.

In other situation Ramirez would have scolded that crewman in private, for showing insubordination but in that moment he was absolutely right.

"All ships retreat, fire our torpedoes on the remaining enemy frigates and head straight for the relay" she shouted through the comm.

All ships included Arcadi's group accelerated towards the relay assuming a joint formation, in an attempt to escape the large Turian fleet coming for them.

"Commander the Corvette scout group has passed through the relay, they are safe, and we are six minutes away" the comm technician confirmed.

"Negative" her second in command James Vikary cut in. "The Turian fleet is moving a frigate squadron to intercept us, at this rate they will be on top of us in four minutes" he made a pause.

_The probe we sent through the relay to war Shanxi only contained information on the turian recon fleet, now we have a full turian fleet with a dreadnought leading it._

_If we don't get through to warm them of the size of the Alien fleet then the colony of Shanxi could be destroy, before the Alliance manages to gather its forces._

"Send an emergency message through the QEC detailing the battle with the turian fleet and composition; order all ships to engage the Cole Protocol" she ordered, receiving grim looks from the crew who knew what those orders meant.

"We are not going to make it" a lone crewman said, resigned.

"Commander Ramirez I am giving you one chance" The voice of Commander Carlos Acardi of the Thermopylae sounded through the comms.

In an instant the head of Acardi appeared on the holographic display looking back at Commander Ramirez.

"Lieutenant commander Ramirez I am transferring the entirety of my crew to the SSV Platea through the rift gate portal of my ship" he allowed a single second to ensure the meaning of that action was not lost on the mind of Ramirez; he was going to do something crazy and he was not going to survive. "I will keep the Turians busy for enough time so you can escape" he explained with resignation.

"Are you crazy Acardi? This is not star trek; we need as many ships as possible to break through the turian incoming squadron, you cannot abandon the formation to play hero" she declared.

"There are at least forty Turian frigates about to attack our flank, most of our ships are damaged, you won't make it, neither of us will; but if I intercept the frigate squadron you may be able to punch through" he answered.

Lieutenant Commander Ramirez hold silent for a few seconds. She watched the holographic display on the board: there were only seven frigates left (four Gergovia class and three Trafalgar class including the Thermopylae). Finally she looked up to the holographic representation of Commander Acardi, he was right.

"I will take our people home I promise" answered Lieutenant Commander Ramirez with conviction on her voice.

"Thank you Commander" he answered with a smile as his hologram flickered and vanished.

The SSV Thermopylae broke formation and headed straight for the Turian flotilla, the alien ships opened fired, with the Trafalgar class frigate dodging most of the direct fire and intercepting most enemy torpedoes with its point defense guardian system, yet receiving many hits as well, with her Kinetic barriers lowering fast.

By the time the Thermopylae was at range to fire its Tiamat Cannon, only its Rearden heavy ship armor was holding the vessel together. Two Turians frigates were destroyed as the Thermopylae fired both her Tiamat Cannon and Javelin disruptor torpedoes, then a third also fell when the Thermopylae made another pass avoiding enemy fire through a combination of luck, her captain-pilot skill and her onboard VI masterful maneuvers.

Finally several frigates concentrated fire on the approaching vector of the human vessel and one the Thermopylae's wings was torn apart with the ship loosing most of its remaining structural integrity. Venting fuel like a dying beast bleeding on its side, the Thermopylae looked like a wounded predator showing its fangs and refusing to die.

On the bridge, Captain Carlos Acardi was on the helmsman position guiding what was left of the Thermopylae straight into the Turian Fleet.

_There is a reason why this ship was named Thermopylae_, her captain though._ I will not surrender; I will not retreat; I will fight until my last breath. _

As Turian concentrated fire broke apart the ship its captain steered it straight into the closest enemy ship. In the emptiness of the void no one could listened as the hull of the human frigate crashed against the body of the leading Turian frigate, breaking their armors as the Thermopylae's drive core overloaded taking the enemy ship with it and damaging the two closest to them, in a flash of light that for a second created a new star on the sky of the closest planet.

On the edge of the system the remaining six human frigates lead by the SSV Hasting were flung across the galaxy, carrying the data of the first space engagement in the history of mankind and the warning that the first war with an alien species was coming towards them.

-.

**2155.06.14 **

**UNKNOWN**

**UNKNOWN**

_Encrypted message:_

_-..-.-…..-…-.-.-.-…..-.-..-.-…-..-.-..-._

_.-…-…..-..-.-.-…-..-.-.-…..-..-.-:-_

_:-…-.-…-..-..-.-.-..-….-..-:;-..-._

__.-…-..-..-..-..-….-..-.-…-..-.-.-…-.—_

…

_Decoding_

_TO: ATLAS_

_FROM: Hermes 319_

_Operation successful, the relay has been activated and the war with the Citadel seems imminent after the battle of Zodiac-Alpha. Our plan went even better than expected; the Turian ships apparently simply opened fire on the civilian vessels, prompting the military escort to intervene._

_The main focus of the Alliance will be the defense of Shanxi and the rest of the Lambda Expanse colonies but they will find the clues behind the alterations we made to ensure the activation of the relay sooner or later._

_I will tie up any loose ends and hide my tracks but for now I must disappear among the evacuees pending the imminent Turian attack._

_If our actions come to light then we will be call traitors and murderers, but when the Citadel Council is no more and Humankind claims its place as the dominant power on the galaxy history shall call us heroes. It's time now; for Earth and her colonies to unleash their power on the galaxy and let the universe feel our might._

_Terra in Aetérnum_

XXXXX

**CODEX:**

**-Sinclair Protocol: **Named after Augustus Sinclair the Prime Minister of the Alliance that after the first contact with the quarians and the reforms through human space, established a limit to the expansion of the Alliance colonial effort in order to ensure the secrecy and isolation of humanity from other alien space faring dominions, until the time was considered right.

The Sinclair Protocol directly prohibits the activation of mass relays linked to Citadel and alien space as well as the survey and travel to systems in close proximity to Citadel territory. The Protocol is considered breached only if a relay linking Alliance and Citadel space is activated from either side or if an alliance ship or group is discovered by any alien race.

**-Cole Protocol: **Inspired by the Cole Protocol of the ancient console videogame Halo, the Cole protocol is an emergency directive: any Terran Alliance or Human vessel, in the event of an emergency evacuation or risk of capture, was to self-destruct, after wiping all data matrices onboard, to prevent any alien race or other parties to recover any critical Intel on humanity.

**-Gergovia class recon frigate:** One of the first new generation combat frigates on the Alliance's navy the Gergovia is a 168 meters long vessel and it's a ship designed to operate on a squadron and formation; making use of top of the line tracking algorithms to make an anti-fighter and anti-missile defensive grid with their Ion Laser Point Defense System. Also they are equipped with a powerful mounted mass accelerator weapon and a battery of Javelin Disruptor Torpedoes.

Despite being cheap and easily mass produce as well as reliable; in the last decade its role on most fleet has been replaced by squadrons of Combat Corvettes which are equally capable of forming a defensive anti-fighter grid in greater numbers. Also the upgrade of new armor and weaponry has given way to the design of its successor the Trafalgar Class. Just at most ships of the Alliance fleet both the Gergovia and Trafalgar class have small size rift gate portals on their cargo bays designed to transport personal and materials between ships and positions.

**-Trafalgar class force-recon frigate:** The new frontline frigate of the Alliance's navy, the Trafalgar is much larger than its predecessor being 242 meters long and carrying a much heavier weaponry and armor than the Gergovia. Designed to operate in five units' squadrons known as wolf packs, the Trafalgar is a multi-task ship capable of overwhelming groups of enemy light cruisers with superior numbers and fire power or make use of hit and run tactics thanks to its speed and FTL capabilities.

The Trafalgar frigate is a highly customizable ship, which in most cases has been upgraded with Tiamat mounted cannons, and in others with Rearden Heavy Ship Armor Plating. Some ships of the class have even been upgraded with Stealth capabilities, although those systems are not as fully relievable as they are in true Stealth ships. Also many ships carry Gravity Well Anchors designed to stabilized emplacements of Rift Gate Portals; sadly that was not the case with the 17° Wolf Pack unit in the Zodiac-Alpha System which engaged a Turian patrol group in 6.14.2155.

**-Rearden Heavy Ship Armor Plating:** Named after Henry 'Hank' Rearden a scientist from Rapture that developed a super strong alloy, through molecular fusion, synthetized metals and the use of mass effect fields to super compress thin layers of Reader Steel and carbon nanotube sheets woven with diamond Chemical Vapor Deposition in ship armor structures.

The Rearden Heavy Ship Armor Plating can resist even the tremendous heat and kinetic energy of most starship weapons.

-.

**ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:**

**Coment9:** Thanks

** .9:** My version of Rapture is a little different than the original. Besides I am trying to be a little more realistic, the human organism is not designed to live beneath the ocean forever without the presence of sunlight and a high pressure as a result of the deeps of the ocean. When the Geth say they do not use windows as they are a structural weakness do you know how far from reality are the submerged art deco sky scrapers of Rapture, sustain their structure and the weight of an ocean with enormous glass windows.

The history of my Rapture will be explained in future chapters.

**Sgt117:** Hopefully I will improve as the story progresses

**AmanoRy:** Thanks

**CheesusChrist15:** My bad

**Superpierce:** Thanks

**PyroSolracII:** It's hard to develop characters when they are alien and cannot be shown with nothing other than my writing. One of the reasons that I also abandoned the previous story was that it was getting hard to develop aspect of the USC and the Human factions without some confusion between them. And frankly it is easier to develop characters that have a human base as things like love interest and relationships are not so easy to explore in OC races.


	6. Chapter 5: Blood in the Void

**Chapter 5: Blood in the Void**

**This chapter will not present many changes from the previous story as for now I will carry on with the original idea.**

_Bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem_

"_It is not goodness to be better than the worst"_

XXXXX

**2155.06.14 **

**Narraste Stream Cluster, Krogan DMZ**

**A few hours after the engagement on Zodiac Alpha System:**

At the Alarakh System containing Tuchanka the Krogan homeworld, 3 dreadnoughts from each Council race were stationed in orbit of the war torn planet leading the three patrol fleets tasked with maintaining security at the center of the demilitarized zone, and forming the Citadel Council DMZ Enforcement Fleet which stood guard over the only inhabited system in the sector.

Patrolling the rest of the sector were two more patrol fleets of the turian navy; that this cluster held 5 dreadnoughts (1 asari, 1 salarian and 3 turians) was practically a testament of how deep the wounds inflicted on the galaxy by the Krogan rebellions had been, even 1300 years later.

The Aralakh Cluster contained both the Krogan Homeworld and the primary relay leading to the center of Council Space, while the Narraste Stream Cluster (named after a goddess from salarian mythology) on the edge of the galactic map was connected to Aralakh by another Primary relay which also contained a secondary mass relay leading to system 483-72 on the previously thought abandoned Dhurker Cluster.

A standard turian fleet was composed by 300 ships centered on a banner ship, as a result of the Treaty of Farixen the Turian Hierarchy was allow to maintain the largest number of dreadnoughts in Citadel space alongside the largest military fleet in the galaxy with nearly 10000 ships in total organized in 30 fleets, each of them lead by a dreadnought.

The addition of two new patrol fleets a few months ago lead by the _HWS Implacable_ and the _HWS Shield of Menae _could have been considered overkill or a waste of resources by many commanders, and before today Admiral Varkus would have been amongst them. The situation on the frontier with the Terminus systems was serious, with the attacks from this pirate "Black fleet" increasing.

Yet the council was unwilling to send fully assembled fleets with dreadnoughts and risks starting a war with any independent power on the Terminus System so instead 2 of the 30 dreadnoughts of the turian fleet with half strength patrol fleets have been deployed at the Krogan DMZ.

Around the _Implacable_ was a fleet of 150 warships mostly frigates conforming the DMZ Second Patrol fleet.

For the past two months nothing serious has been reported, until now when Turian squadron attached to the fleet has been attacked and nearly decimated by an unknown force.

Admiral Varkus commanding officer of the Krogan DMZ Second Patrol fleet stood on the elevated podium of the bridge of his banner ship the second line dreadnought _HWS Implacable_, looking at the report of the engagement on the system known only as 483-62, not believing his eyes.

Standing in the opposite site of the room was Captain Legan Krovatus commanding officer of the _HWS Virrokan_ leading cruiser of the survey group sent to scout 483-72 which has encountered the unknown vessels and suffered tremendous casualties on the engagement.

As soon as Captain Krovatus have reported his encounter with an enemy flotilla, Varkus has moved his banner ship and fleet to the System 483-62, he thanked the spirits that the comm buoys at the system have been able to receive the transmission from the relay at 483-62. The arrival of his fleet has forced the retreat of the enemy ships but they were incapable on preventing their escape through the outer primary relay.

"How many ships did you lost?" he asked the captain, who flinched for a second and looked down, in a clear display of personal shame, yet he took a deep breath and look to the rest of the bridge.

"We lost four cruisers; the other two are heavily damaged, from my nine strong frigate varren pack we lost 5 frigates, the remaining four are damaged, but only two are no longer combat capable. We lost many good Turians, and for all stands and purposes my task group has been decimated" Captain Krovatus looked broken but also angry not only against those alien vessels that have inflicted so many casualties but against himself for failing in his duty to protect all those soldiers under his command.

"Please summarize your report on the encounter with the unknown vessels" Admiral Varkus asked.

"As stated in my report, upon exiting the relay we found ourselves facing a squadron of corvette class vessels, presumably some survey group. As you can see from the display they had an unknown profile and they were only 62m long" the admiral and the rest banner officers assembled in the room nodded, noting the unknown profile of the ships showed in the holographic display.

"The sensors reported that the corvettes had civilian grade mass effect cores, kinetic barriers, and armor yet lacked any advanced weapons. This combined with their unknown profile and small size led me to believe that they were smuggler ships. I followed the standing orders regarding the presence of such ships in the krogan DMZ and I opened fire immediately" he declared with pride.

"Standing orders actually require that we interrogate any ship before opening fire, in case it has a legitimate cargo and flight plan that may have been lost in the gears of bureaucracy" Superior Captain Corinius cut Captain Krovatus off. "Even though your actions in this case were entirely correct, as there is no legitimate reason for anyone to be in that system, remember to follow orders to the letter in future. The status of the suspect ships will not always be so helpfully determined by their location" he declared.

Krovatus's mandibles narrowed in a display of anger, yet he released a deep breath of relief, glad that they were not condemning his decision to open fire without communicating further, so he continued his report.

"As the unknown alien ships turned to flee, our sensors detected two varren pack frigates groups converging on our position" he made a pause as he signaled the holographic displaying the unknown vessels.

"One group was formed by five small size frigates of 168 meters long while the other contained five heavy frigates measuring 242 meters long, all of them holding unknown IFFs and profiles, yet our sensors confirmed those ships to be military class and containing heavy weaponry. I assume a defensive formation, relying on the heavy fire power of my cruisers and numerical advantage to neutralize the group. However the larger enemy frigates opened fire on my cruiser line with a powerful energy base weapon" he declared with anger and regret.

He made a pause looking at the faces of the now surprised banner officers, as he showed the holo recording of the battle. Even the admiral's chin drop in disbelieve and a bit of horror as the leading enemy frigate fired a blue beam of plasma like energy and practically took down a turian battle cruiser on one shot.

"You know the result of the engagement" Captain Krovatus finished.

The rest of the reports from the other banner officers went through the terminal of Admiral Varkus; he read it quickly, taking special note on the sacrifice of one of the enemy commanders and its ship, who have been able to take down three Turian ships and a fourth by ramming its own vessel to a Turian frigate. He also needed to make contact with the Citadel as soon as possible regarding the activation of the Relay 314; however one of the Blackwatch officers assigned to the Second Patrol Fleet stood from his seat and called the attention of the rest of the room.

"Admiral this energy base weapon use by the unknown ships matches to the reports of the engagements against the pirate "Black fleet" on the frontier with the Terminus Systems" Lieutenant Oren Daelanuss declared, drawing the attention of the remaining officers to himself as he continued speaking.

"This is not a standard smuggler or mercenary group: Those ships were military class, they maintained formation when engaging a numerical superior force and one of those enemy commanders even sacrificed their own ship to allow the rest of the group to escape" he made a pause as he let that idea sink in everyone.

This was not a small criminal group; no criminal organization maintained such level of proficiency, discipline and sacrifice. As the Admiral thought about this, the Blackwatch officer continued.

"Also they have activated a dormant relay and are operating beyond Citadel Space" he declared. "They have found something valuable on the other side of the relay, something worthy of scarifying themselves to keep it safe" he suggested.

Everyone began processing what Daelanuss was saying, thinking deep about the seriousness of the situation.

"What are you saying Lieutenant?" Admiral Varkus asked with authority on his voice.

"Don't you see, what we have in front of us?!" the Lieutenant shouted in an arrogant tone.

"Those criminals have activated a dormant mass relay without the authorization of the Citadel, this is no smuggler group or blood pack gang; we are facing a pirate group from some Terminus system power or maybe Batarian black operations group who may has discovered a Protean ruin on the other site and has reversed engineered the technology to develop that energy weapon which has destroyed so many war ships and ended the lives of so many good Turians" everyone's eyes went wide, some believing that Lieutenant Daelanuss theory was too far fetch yet the information presented in front of them hold absolutely nothing to refute that hypothesis.

Admiral Varkus looked at the young lieutenant dominating the room with his crazy theories.

_A Blackwatch operative, a poor excuse for a turian whose intellect tested too high to be a simple soldier and whose morals tested low enough to be a spy. If he has the talons and the stomach to do the Council's dirty work he may become an excellent spectre one day._

"That is going too far Lieutenant, the attacks from the "black fleet" through the Traverse have been going on for months yet before today there was no report of any movement at this system far less an unauthorized activation of this relay" Captain Corinius declared.

"Then this situation is even worse than what we have anticipated, not only the Second Patrol Fleet has suffered a defeat against an enemy with serious numerical disadvantage but also we have allowed for an unknown party to operate on their area of patrol practically since the beginning of their assignment" the Lieutenant countered back, making the entire room gasped with incredulity and indignation.

Every eye on the bridge looked at Lieutenant Daelanuss as if they wanted to surgical remove his carapace with a very slowly and painful process.

He has just called them incompetents and more importantly he has insulted their honor; yet the admiral swallowed his anger and raised his hand to call for silence.

"**Enough**! While I do not share the certainty Lieutenant Daelanuss regarding this situation yet one thing remains clear, some unknown party has violated one of the oldest Citadel's laws activating a dormant relay without authorization and upon being confronted with the authority of the Council the turian fleet they choose to engage us in battle causing the death of at least two hundred good turians" Admiral Varkus shouted as he stood from his position.

"I don't know how many of the theories of Lieutenant Daelanuss are right, but one thing remains clear, as the weapon used in this engagement are the same described in the raids of the black fleet pirates, according to the Salarian STG" he declared with conviction.

"Under our noses the 'black fleet' has activated a relay on our patrol area and may have operated on this sector for weeks, at the very least" the rest of the officers silently nodded in agreement as they recognized their failures. "We have failed in our duty and we allowed this to happen" he declared with shame and anguish.

"This cannot stand! We will follow these pirates to their outpost in the other side of the relay 314; and bring them to justice" he sentenced to a chorus of agreement from the room.

"Beg your pardon, one thing admiral?" Captain Corinius asked with some hesitation, stopping Admiral Varkus in his tracks.

"Protocol demands that we inform the Citadel of the activation of any mass relays, shouldn't we inform the Council of our findings and assemble a task force to deal with this situation?" he flinched after his last statement while silence has befallen on the room; Captain Corinius have practically accused his commanding officer of disobeying orders.

"I understand your reservations captain Corinius, I share several of them" he made a pause.

"We will inform the Citadel, but after we find the truth behind this, otherwise we will be known through the turian navy as the patrol fleet which allowed a pirate group to operate with impunity for months in an area under direct Council oversight" he made a pause.

"Not to mention, that Citadel bureaucracy is slow, the death of so many good soldiers lost in the first engagement must be answered swiftly and hard! It is time to show those criminals whoever they are, the power of the Turian hierarchy and the Citadel Council!" he declared to a choir of yesses from the rest of the officers.

-.

**2155.06.14 **

**Quinhai: Capital of the colony of Shanxi **

**Six hours after the first contact with the turian fleet**

Lieutenant General George Williams sat at the head of the table on the briefing room at the military headquarters on Shanxi. In the center of the table a hologram of the Lambda Expanse was being projected.

Joining him at the table they were attending in person his second in command Coronel Liun Xian; the governor of Shanxi who was on the other side of the table; the Chairman of the Changhong Colony Development Company and the Chinese government Representative Mateusz Joeng. While Lieutenant Ramirez of the SSV Hastings and Commodore Lillian Meltzer, CO of the naval forces in the Fujian-Alpha System, attended via hologram.

All with the exception of Commodore Meltzer and Coronel Xian looked tired and nervous. He had informed the Alliance's High Command about the situation, obviously the reaction has been just like he has expected, with the admirals and commanders debating the best course of action while waiting for the government's approval.

The politicians have already been informed, and on the Erebus Nexus within the General Assembly; the parliament and the Prime Minister's office there was already a search for a scapegoat. After all the long standing plan of development, expansion and consolidation of the Alliance before allowing humanity to present itself to the rest of the galaxy has been cut short by decades or maybe centuries, because a greedy company and a colonial politician have swing around Alliance's protocols and procedures inadvertently activating a relay linking to Council Space.

At least they had a defense, every document and procedure regarding the activation of the relay was in order, only the maps and Intel regarding the other relay had been wrong.

Governor Wu could already see his chances for reelection vanishing in front of his eyes or even an end to his political career if the media transformed him into the public face of this disaster; as he has signed the document which allowed for the activation of the dormant mass relay.

As for the Chairman of the Changhong Company the man was nervous and shaken to the core; he could practically see his company's stock price plummeting, and himself facing public scandal and perhaps even criminal charges for incorrect procedures or whatever the court could invent to pin this disaster to him.

But General Williams didn't give a crap about those two, his job and duty was to defend the colony of Shanxi and all of human controlled space from any outer or inner aggressions, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

"Are we expecting any reinforcements from the Alliance's navy?" the Governor asked General Williams and Commodore Meltzer exchanged looks.

"The fleets have been mobilized already, however for the time being the Alliance's navy groups are stationed on their respective sectors, with the Eleventh fleet awaiting orders to converge on our position" she explained before making a pause, looking up to the general signaling for him to speak.

"The reports of the battle at the Zodiac-Alpha system have already been reviewed by High Command, the Parliament and the Prime Minister. Saying that they are upset is an understatement; they do not want to move any assets unless the situation becomes clear" he stood from his seat and looked through the window, seeing the capital city around him.

The Briefing room was on the highest floor at the top of the 1 kilometer long arcologie on the center of the city of Quinhai, the lives of 2.8 million people rested on his shoulders. Commodore Meltzer exchanged looks with him and continue speaking.

"While I don't like that a clear threat to the Alliance's security is not answered immediately because of political bureaucracy, the guys on office have a point: We do not know, what the Turians and probably the Citadel Council wants and knows about us" Commodore Meltzer pressed a few commands on her data wrist, switching the hologram of the sector to a display showing a more general galactic representation detailing the connections between the Lambda Expanse with Fujian-Alpha and Shanxi on its center and its connections to the Zodiac Cluster, and Arcturus Stream, showing the location of the Alliance's Eleventh fleet in Rodin and the Fifth and Sixth fleets on Arcturus Station.

"Opening a relay on citadel controlled space is illegal by the Citadel Council's law. It is probable that the Turians may have opened fire on our survey group, not knowing the true purpose of our ships and their mission. However if they have been able to recovered any data from the civilian ships, or there was any leak, then an imminent attack by Council Forces lead by the Turian navy seems inevitable" she explained.

"My Flotilla on this system won't be enough to stop them without reinforcements from the rest of the navy or the remaining flotillas at this sector" Commodore Meltzer made a pause.

"Another factor that we need to take into account is the absence of any rift gates in this system. In order to provide aid, our fleet will have to traverse from the Arcturus stream to this system through the relay network or linked to Erebus and from there to Fujian-Delta" she added.

"Which is exactly one of the reasons why the Changhong Colonial Development Company pushed for the activation of the dormant relay" for the first time since the beginning of the meeting, the businessman of Changhong spoke up.

"We have been asking for the placement of a Rift Gate for months, but the Parliament and the Secretary of Colonial Affairs declared that this system was still lacking enough population and a strong economy to merit the connection to the Rift Gate Network. If they have allowed for any…" he stopped dead on his tracks when he realized that everyone in the room was glaring at him; none of them liked that he was wasting their time making excuses to justify this disaster.

"Governor Wu and Commodore Meltzer signed the authorization" Representative Joeng declared drawing the attention of the room. "Their signatures are on that document as is mine, but that does not matter" he declared with some level of conviction. "What's done is done, now we need to focus on preparing the colony for whatever is coming" he concluded looking back to the governor who nodded in agreement.

"For now the priority is the security of this colony and sector, what are you going to do to protect the people of Shanxi?" the Governor asked the military officers in the room, sounding almost genuine in his concern for his people. General Williams imputed some new orders on his console.

The hologram highlighted two green and four yellow planets spread over four systems:

-"Here, in Fujian-Alpha system itself, we have the shirt sleeve Chinese colony on Shanxi and the Dome research station on Jiangsu (the non-habitable sister planet of Shanxi).

-"Over in the Fujian-Epsilon System, we have the Kenyan and Nigerian dome colony on Kaduna."

-"In the Fujian-Beta system, we have the Italian and Spanish dome colony on Catalina and the Argentinian and Brazilian dome colony on Karabi."

-"Finally, we have the Indian shirt sleeve colony of New Indus in the Fujian-Delta system."

"All of them have the garrisons appropriate to their world class and population, which I why have decided to leave in place. We do not know the enemy's numbers and we have limited Intel on their motivations, capabilities or military doctrine. I have no intention of stripping these worlds of their garrisons to boost the defenses here on Shanxi; not when we are not even certain that Shanxi will be the enemy's primary target, though I admit it is highly likely to be as, it is the first colony in proximity to the relay" she explained.

The Governor and Representative didn't fight the decision to do not bring all their available assets to Shanxi, picking on their silence General Williams continued. "Commodore, can you please confirm for us the ships we have available?"

Commodore Meltzer waved her hand at the hologram, suddenly the planets were no longer highlighted, instead the systems were highlighted and a stream of naval data was connected to each one.

"Of course General, just like the army, when colonizing a new sector, the navy assigns ships based on a planet class and population. Unlike the army, when the sector is fully colonized and developed, these forces will be combined, and more ships will be added to make up a full fleet, rather than following the army's system of waiting for the worlds to grow too the pre-requisite levels before deploying full armies and army groups" she explained.

"Sector wide operational battle fleets are assigned control and supervision of a central cluster and its nearby sectors, making use of the rift gate network to answer immediately to any threat within their area of operation" she pointed to the hologram display as she explained the Alliance fleet composition.

"Here, in this cluster, we have my own flotilla totaling 60 warships defending the Fujian-Alpha system and Lambda Expanse; another regular flotilla is assigned to the Fujian-Delta system and its shirt sleeve colony; while Beta and Epsilon have only dome worlds, as such they have only been assigned a cruiser detachment of 25 warships each" she explained.

"Also we have two sub strength cruiser squadrons of 4 ships and one full strength cruiser squadron of 12 ships patrolling the shipping lanes between the four systems" she said.

"My frigates are already evacuating the scientific station on the Lagrange point 4 of the system, and the mining station on Lagrange 5 and the bulk of my flotilla is standing in a defensive formation at close proximity of the relay to Zodiac" she explained.

"Standard protocol of the Alliance navy is in case of hostile first contact with an alien fleet is to assemble the forces available in their home systems or the most likely target of the enemy fleet" she explained. "So we are fighting the enemy here, not in the Zodiac Cluster were our lack of Intel about enemy movements, capabilities and doctrines could present a serious disadvantage" as she finished the second in command of the garrison looked at the display and spoke.

"Commodore, there is no way for the turian forces to know of the other systems in this cluster, correct? They would have to scout each star system in an ever-increasing spherical radius from Fujian-Alpha to find them, just as we did to find the garden worlds in the first place" Coronel Xian was staring intently at the hologram, as the Commodore simply nodded.

"Then, why we don't combine all of the warships into one fleet here in Fujian-Alpha?" he asked. "The only system in the entire Lambda Expanse that we know for sure the aliens will have to attack?" he asked.

"That is an accurate assumption Coronel Xian, however while we know for a fact that the Cole Protocol was executed on the frigates operating on Zodiac Alpha. The civilian corvette survey team was attacked without warning and its crew may have not had time to erase their navigational data" Commodore Meltzer voice showed some concern as she looked back to Lieutenant Ramirez.

"As tempting as it might be to mass all ships here in Theta to meet the alien threat head on, I do not think that leaving four systems completely exposed to naval attack is worth the risk. While we have limited information, provided by the Quarian Codex about Turian doctrine, technology and military prowess; we do not know the full extent of their numbers and intentions" she declared.

"If we keep the naval formations separated and the navy is defeated here in Fujian-Alpha, the other forces in the cluster will at least have a chance to analyze the data and plan for the next battle with a viable defense force, alongside reinforcements from the Alliance's navy" General Williams nodded to that and took his turn to speak.

"If we gamble everything on defeating the enemy here in Fujian-Alpha and lose, then there will be no naval forces left to exploit any weaknesses in the enemy's forces or tactics, the entire cluster will be open to naval attack" he explained.

"Commodore, you will have to fight the hostile forces with what you have, meanwhile I will have my Colonial Guard directing the evacuation of every town and outpost on Shanxi, bringing every civilian either to the capital or the refugees on the mountains as they are the only defendable areas of operations in the planet. Meanwhile I will contact the Alliance's high command through the quantum entanglement communicator and maintain a full assessment of the situation as it unfolds" he declared.

"What about reinforcements? Governor Wu asked. "When can we expect the arrival of the fleet on this system?"

"If they are sent now, they could arrive in mere hours from Erebus through the rift gate on Fujian-Delta" Commodore Meltzer explained, giving an annoyed look. "But the fleet answers to admirals who answer to politicians" she gave a distasteful look at the Governor. "And with the political situation it may take days or weeks before they send help, politicians are always slow to make decisions, even in times of war" she declared.

"This is a hostile first contact, and while protocol demands the deployment of fleets and armies to defend this sector. The parliament decisions are slow, and even if the Prime Minister and the General Assembly are willing to send reinforcements, they will be weary of the political backslash of this situation descending into a full scale galaxy-wide conflict" General Williams concluded as he released a heavy sight.

"Speaking of first contact, as its stands in Alliance protocol I will dispatch a first contact package through the relay" Commodore Meltzer declared receiving surprised looks from the entire room.

"Commodore with all due respect, this no longer a theoretical scenario; the Turians made their intention plain and clear as they opened fire on a survey group and their escort, even if that was a misunderstanding we also opened fire on them and destroyed their ships" General Williams declared with conviction. "One way or another, my gut tells me that there is battle coming, I only hope it is not the beginning of a war" he declared with some sadness.

"I know General, and I have no intention of giving up any first strike advantage my ships might have by broadcasting it when the enemy have come through the relay to attack us. However, this is still first contact" she explained.

"Nearly five decades ago humanity made its first contact with alien life. Now we are either at the brink of war with another space faring civilization or at the chance to present ourselves for the first time to the greater galactic community not only as equals, but as a civilization that values peace over pride and aggression" she took a deep breath and continued.

"Yes, they fired on us and yes, they destroyed our ships and in return we fired on them and decimated their ships. But how we handle this will be the defining moment of our people. It will be looked back on for as long as humans exist as the moment when humans decide to meet the galaxy with an open hand, or with a clenched fist in aggression. I want to make it clear that we are better than these turians and that we are willing to talk no matter how disastrous our first meeting occurred. That we will fight and defend our territory and our people, but that we won't ever close the door on diplomacy" she made a pause tacking a deep breath.

"And let the galaxy know that we will never give up hope of peaceful coexistence with other species" she declared with pride and determination.

Everyone in the room exchanged looks.

"The first contact package may contain sensitive information" Coronel Xian suggested. "Our history, basic biology, cultures and images of Earth which could provide the means for the enemy to find its location; we should remove most of the non-critical information other than our language matrix" he explained.

"I agree; my crew will prepare a revised first contact package to deliver across the relay" she answered.

"Commodore if I may" Commander Ramirez said. "With your permission I will like to be the person who delivers the first contact package" she suggested receiving the confuse looks of the people of the table.

"You are volunteering your ship to cross the relay and deliver the transmission?!" Commodore Meltzer asked as the Commander simply nodded with calm despite the risks she has considered taking.

"Out of the question, we can just send a probe containing the translation matrix and the first contact package" Commodore Meltzer answered. "There is no need to risk any more lives" she declared to the agreement of the general and coronel in the table"

"The Turians may not react well to a probe, they may think is a weapon and open fire as soon as it crosses the relay, not to mention that a probe could be salvaged for technology and information" she made a pause. "But if I take the Hastings through the relay alone, without the rest of my crew or an escort, I may be able to convince them that we mean no harm" she explained before releasing a heavy sigh.

"Enough lives have been lost already, we must do our best to prevent more deaths" she expressed with conviction. "If the danger of capture stands imminent I will overload my ship's power core and leave nothing for the turians to recover" she declared.

All those present in the room exchanged looks, Representative Joeng looked as the most distressed, while the Commodore and the General looked at each other in agreement.

"Fine then" Commodore Meltzer declared. "You will take your ship through the relay with the first contact package, I hope the Turians are not the 'happy trigger arrogant idiots' the Quarian Codex describes, for all our sakes" she declared, trying to lighten the mood a little.

General Williams stood up and looked at the rest of the table.

"Then good luck Commander Ramirez and remain vigilant" he said to the frigate commander about to risk her life in order to prevent a war from erupting.

"If humanity is going to be called to war I want the people of the Terran Alliance to know that we did all that we could to prevent it" he made a pause and look at Commodore Lillian Meltzer. "You have my full support for whatever actions you take in space Commodore. Defend this system as best you are able, but if you are overwhelmed do not hesitate to retreat. Ships and experienced crews are far more valuable in war than heroic but pointless deaths" he declared.

"I will organize my entire Division to begin preparing the city for an attack; as well as evacuate as much civilians as possible; honestly it could take months to evacuate 3 million people but at least we must move as many women, elderly and children out of danger as we can" he explained. "I will contact the Alliance and immediate colonies and called as many civilian ships as they can to transport the evacuees" he explained.

"Let's hope we can avoid war all together" General Williams declared. "But if these turians want war, then we will bring one to them" he expressed with anger.

"Stand ready, history is about to be made; may our actions determine our future and the one of humanity and the Alliance" he declared with a deep voice and a fire of determination burning in his eyes.

The two navy officers present by hologram saluted and then shimmered out of existence, as General Williams turned to the map and begin planning the defense of the city and the colony.

-.

**2155.06.17 **

**Escort Carrier SSV Marcus Aurelius, opposite side of the Lambda-Zodiac Mass relay**

**A few days later**

Commodore Lillian Meltzer stood in front of the holographic map of the CIC of his flagship the Escort Carrier _SSV Marcus Aurelius_. She felt a little tired, she hadn't been able to sleep nor rest in nearly 28 hours.

They have received answer from the Erebus Nexus: The Prime Minister and the admiralty have enabled War Plan Case Red organizing the navy with most flotillas and squadrons leaving any non-critical system to converge in their core fleets in order to coordinate the defense of the Alliance. However the chances for a main fleet to arrive at Fujian-Alpha any time soon were low, the Parliament and the Assembly were paralyzed with indecision; that was another reason why she hated politicians, they never did anything if there something for them to gain in the short or long term, and soldiers obeyed the orders of the government.

Her flotilla assembled in force was a sight to behold nevertheless.

The Terran Alliance doctrine was based on one primary principal: 'He Who Defends Everything Defends Nothing' a statement originally uttered by Frederick the Great, of Prussia, which is often confuse by a quote of Sun Tzu in the art of war.

You cannot defend every inch of ground or even the extent of a very long front with a limited supply of troops. You also cannot refuse to negotiate on all points in the political arena. The nature of modern representative government is such that the important things must be defended and the less important offered up in trade for getting other things you want or need. In both situations, demanding that everything be saved results in nothing being saved, militarily because you will be defeated piecemeal with your troops spread out, and politically because your opponent has no reason to negotiate with you if you are not willing to give on any issue at all.

Regular flotillas and squadrons were assigned to defend colonies, systems and outposts not only to defend against enemy token forces and recover Intel on the enemy capabilities but also to prevent a massive loss of life and hardware in case of a massive preemptive strike by having all the available forces on one place as an easy target. For each sector a headquarters was establish defended by the core of each fleet, the capital ships.

Such was the case of the 11° fleet responsible for the defense of the Theta Nebula and the Lambda Expanse with its headquarters on the colony of Rodin. If the Turians were to overcome her flotilla she was to retreat and regroup with the 11° fleet to launch a counterattack against the enemy.

_How I wish Admiral Comstock was here_

Meanwhile the parliament was still divided with Chinese representatives claiming that the defense of Shanxi was an exclusively responsibility of the Chinese republic, North America was staying on the sidelines and the other nations like Rapture, the European Federation, Russia and India didn't want to compromise all of mankind to war, until the lines on the sand have been clearly defined.

In the hours since the end of the meeting, her fleet evacuated most of the personnel of the Dome research station on Jiangsu. All space stations on the system with the exception of Shanxi Orbital station in geo stationary orbit above Quinhai have been evacuated. And in the planet itself, the civilian population has taken shelter on the main city, with most women and children being sent to the underground refuges or boarding any available transports to abandon the system, while the remaining civilian population was occupying the center of the city, as General Williams and his colonial guard were constructing a defensive perimeter around the Axial City.

"Commander Ramirez you are clear to go" she ordered through the comms. "Good luck Commander" she wished just as the SSV Hastings was catapult several light years by the mass relay.

The Hastings computer has been equipped with a sophisticated translation matrix codex that was to be transmitted to the turians along the basic first contact package, she was hopping no one else was to die this day.

The first contact message included a simulation of only 10 ships coming through the relay in order to engage in diplomatic talks.

Despite the delicate situation, Commodore Lillian Meltzer felt good, she was exactly where she needed to be.

Lillian Meltzer was born on the city of New Rapture on Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system, an only child raised by a single father after their mother abandoned them because of her addiction to the drug red sand, fostering a deep sense of abandonment in her daughter. Yet Lillian had been able to channel that hatred and with the help of her dad, she entered into the Alliance's military academy on Chiron distinguishing herself as a young and prominent cadet.

She had been able to climb through the ranks rather quickly by constantly participating in simulations and high difficulty battle scenarios deployment with the fleet and the Alliance Marine Corps.

Yet they were all simulations, in a few minutes, she may very well become the first human commander to ever engage an alien force since the crew of the SSV Michigan several decades ago.

Unless the enemy arrived in large numbers, the odds were in her favor: Quarian Intel and the data gathered by the unit of Lieutenant Ramirez have given her a complete preliminary overview of the Turian fleet, its navy's composition, ships and tactics:

-On her command she had a full Flotilla Group, composed by her flagship the Escort Carrier SSV Marcus Aurelius; 9 Baikal class Heavy Cruisers; 25 Columbia class Destroyers and a group of 25 Trafalgar and Cannes class Frigates reinforced by another two Trafalgar class and two Gergovia class originally part of Commander Ramirez and Acardi groups.

-Her AI assistant has already classified the Turian ships sighted on the Zodiac Central System: The standard Turian frigate was 317 meters long, certainly larger that her Trafalgar class but also slower. The Turian cruiser was basically a larger version of the Turian Frigate being 535 meters long, yet it was only fifteen meters larger than her Columbia class destroyers.

The real issue was the leading Turian Dreadnought being 892 meters long and carrying a main axial gun of more than 50 kilotons, which was serious danger to her destroyers and frigates but not so much against her Baikal class Heavy Cruisers.

-She has organized a standard Alliance defensive formation: Her flagship was at the back of the fleet accompanied by the frigate reserve of the Gergovia class frigates, the pilots on her ship's squads were on full alert ready to jump on their fighters, bombers and corvettes to be launched from the hangar, with their heavy payload of plasma charges and disruptor torpedoes fully loaded. At the center of the fleet were her 9 Baikal class heavy cruisers. Surrounding them were her 25 strong cruiser force, while the frigates were split with 10 on each side, forming the curving flanks of her formation.

-The central piece of her formation were the nine Baikal Class heavy cruisers, each being 780 meters long, they were barely bellow the category of Dreadnought by Citadel Standard, all were heavily armored, and they carried powerful mass accelerator cannons and Tiamat mounted weapons.

-Yet her greatest advantage was her position, she had positioned her fleet on the opposite-above side of the Zodiac-Lambda relay. According to the reports from the engagement at Zodiac-Alpha turian ship's armor was lighter on the dorsal and superior body of the ship.

Apparently according to a deep study of the Quarian Codex regarding Turian shipbuilding capabilities and doctrine, Hierarchy's ships have heavier armor on their ventral surfaces than on their dorsal ones, as they were designed to support the army during planetary invasions and as such they had to be armored against heavy fire from the surface.

Standing above also allowed her ships to target any exposed bridges and subsystems, while allowing most of their ship guns to unleash their entire firepower on the enemy fleet.

"Commodore we are receiving a transmission from Commander Ramirez coming through the QEC" her flag lieutenant informed her.

At her orders the hologram of commander Meltzer appeared on the CIC.

"Commodore the Turian fleet stands in formation near the Zodiac-Fujian relay I am transmitting the first contact package and translation matrix" she explained.

"I am sending you the turian fleet's composition as well" she said.

"Maintain position Commander don't do anything that could misread your actions as hostile" the Commodore ordered.

"Wait the Turian ships are powering weapons!" she said with dread. "Powering barriers and moving to…" she informed as the hologram flickered and vanished.

Silence fell down on the SSV Aurelius CIC, as everyone exchanged looks, before the synthetic voice of the ship's AI broke the silence.

"SSV Hastings confirmed destroyed" the AI explained. "Direct impact of dreadnought class mass accelerator weapon on the hull, the ship self-destruct protocol was engaged in order to prevent capture" the AI confirmed.

Even though the SSV Hastings only carried one passenger her captain, as Commander Ramirez has refused to allow anyone else to die because of her gamble, the entire CIC has received a heavy blow with the destruction of that ship; but the mood on the room and of the officers through the ship was not of sadness or sorrow, it was of determined rage now and thirst for turian blood.

-.

"Relay is showing activity!" Comms reported before sending out the fleet wide call to battle stations.

"Prepare for combat, Action stations, set condition 1 throughout the ship!" she called through the general communication.

"As soon as the turian ships exit the relay, open fire" she ordered.

_Let the void be filled with turian blood_

XXXXX

**2155.06.17**

**Zodiac Central System, relay 314**

Admiral Varkus stood on the bridge of his banner ship the Hierarchy War Ship _Implacable_, his anger on this criminal group had grown immensely on the last few minutes, in a last desperate attempt to stop his forces the pirates has sent a single ship through the relay that scans confirmed to be the same as one of the previously encountered frigates.

As soon as the ship exited the relay it began to transmit to every ship of the turian fleet a computer code of some kind, that the computers had troubled reading it; when the scan confirmed AI heuristic codes coming out of that ship it confirmed his worse fears; it was a computer virus with AI code mean to disable or cripple his fleet.

Thankfully his cyber warfare officer had caught the completely unknown programming language and flagged it as a threat, preventing any damage to the fleet's software.

As soon as the virus code has been contained and the message channels closed to further transmissions he opened fire on the enemy ship with his dreadnought main gun destroying it completely. Most surprisingly however was the explosion of a small nuclear charge in the enemy ship as soon as his weapon had crippled it; perhaps a suicide bomber or a poor attempt to prevent capture?

The presence of an AI cyber-weapon and the use of a nuclear device in close proximity to the relay was a treacherous affront to Citadel laws which had completely infuriated his crews and subordinates; as a result of that he was going to send his full fleet through the relay to deal with those black fleet pirates.

Part of him actually wanted them to resist so that he could have them completely destroyed as the presence of an AI code in the enemy ship was a transgression of one of the oldest and most important Citadel laws in existence.

He wanted to wipe this criminal group to the last ship and individual, and erase their existence from the face of the universe to show every species on the galaxy just what happens when you challenge the Turian Hierarchy.

He was ready to send his entire patrol fleet led by his dreadnought banner ship through the relay. Hopefully seeing 150 Turian Warships and a dreadnought would be enough to convince these criminals to stand down immediately or face annihilation.

It was a massive overkill but after the loss of so many ships against only ten enemy frigates, he needed as many ship as possible to face whatever surprise these criminals had in stored for him on the other side of the relay.

His subordinates were determined and ready, as they wanted to avenge the death of so many Turian brothers and sisters; as well as regaining their honor: If the blackwatch lieutenant was right, his fleet had allowed a pirate group to operate on a Council controlled space for months, it could mean the end of their careers if they do not capture or kill whoever had been responsible for all of this.

Despite all that, a creeping seed of doubt has begun to grow around his mind, wrecks recovered from the destroyed enemy frigates had shown little technical insights, as there was very little to recover from engines or computers, but his engineering team was fascinated by the armor plating of the last frigate, it was an alloy unknown to any race, stronger than diamond or any metal and highly resistant.

Yet the most puzzling item recovered has been a piece of metal from a dorsal wing which contained a symbol or brand of some kind painted on the metal: A strange tower painted in golden yellow inside a circle formed by some kind of crest in a blue and white lined background. He had never seen that coat of arms before, neither did the codex. There was something that just didn't add up.

After an hour the joined fleet had assumed formation and was ready to transit through the unknown relay.

A hundred and fifty ships lead by the _HWS Implacable_ were going to jump through the relay while a remaining varren pack frigate squad will be left waiting in the Narraste Stream Cluster making it appear as if his fleet was still on regular patrol.

As the rings around the element zero core on the center of the mass relay began to spin faster the entire fleet spear headed by the _Implacable_ was swung across a distance of light years in a field of black matter.

-.

Just as his ship finished the transition to the new system, Admiral Varkus braced himself for the deceleration as they exited the relay, but he was send sprawling across the deck as the _Implacable_ was rocked more violently than any relay transition should have caused.

"Admiral, we are under fire!" his tactical officer shouted.

Before he could even ask the status of the ship, the dreadnought rocked violently again and the lights on the bridge flickered. A second later the tactical holographic display began to show the fleet disposition and situation.

"Status?" he asked with anger on his voice.

"The entire fleet is under fire! Source is 170 degrees lateral by 49 degrees above. Our ships are turning and trying to come about to face them" sensors called out finally clarifying the situation, even if his voice was tinged with horror at the fact that their opponents had an unobstructed shot at their sterns.

In the hologram display, turian cruisers and frigates were still appearing as they crossed the relay only to be destroyed in seconds as soon as heavy firepower rounds went through their barriers and armor as if they were made of paper. Across the area around the relay fragments and debris were beginning to float around, all of turians ships.

"It's taking too long to accelerate from a standing start and to make the turn, multiple ships reporting kinetic barrier failures, 16 ships already confirmed destroyed or disabled" comms reported bluntly. Getting a shot at a warship's stern was every commander's wet dream, and the enemy forces firing on them were taking full advantage.

The turian ships sluggishly tried to turn to face them, but their low starting speed was seriously hampering their maneuverability, and the enemy guns just keep on firing.

The ship rocked again as the sound of the engines cut out for a second before coming back weaker. Several crewmembers glanced at Damage Control, wondering how bad the damage was.

"Severe damage to engines 4 and 5, stable velocity reduced by 25%. Our cruiser escort is covering us from the pirate ship's fire, but our speed and maneuverability are severely degraded, Admiral" he explained with dread on his voice.

"Enemy numbers confirmed: 29 frigates size, 25 cruisers and…10 dreadnoughts?" Tactical called up in shock to the amazement of the bridge.

"Confirm that!" The Admiral snapped.

"Regular enemy cruiser is 520 meters long, confirmed presence of nine 780 meters long warships and a single 1100 meters long dreadnought, yet the last ship is not firing upon us, and sensors report no presence of heavy weapons on it, most likely it is some kind of mobile star base" he explained.

The Sensors officer spoke up in relief as the tactical plot finally showed some good news for the Turian fleet.

"The first frigate and cruiser squadrons have completed their turns; they are now returning fire with their main guns" Admiral Varkus watch the holographic display with concern, it was only a reduced group of turian ships able to counterattack, as the unknown vessels were aiming at the engines of any Turian ship that has finished transition through the relay, many of his ships have been immobilized and many more had been outright destroyed.

"Pirates forces are maintaining formation and rate of fire" tactical explained.

"These are no Pirates, nor the black fleet" Admiral Varkus re-established control over the wave of reports. "Re-designate enemy warships as military opponents and inform all ships to expect them to act as such" he ordered.

That caused the banner bridge to go silent the only sounds were the roar of the remaining engines at full power. The Comms officer finally broke the shocked silence and spoke up "Admiral, if they are not pirates should we not open communications?"

"It is too late for that, crewman. We are in the middle of a battle any changes will have to wait until we are no longer under fire. Launch all fighters and begin an attack run with all ships that have completed their turns. All remaining forces are to form up upon completing their own turns and prepare to follow the first wave in. We are to open fire as soon as Implacable has a firing solution. Also order every ship to deploy their contingent of fighters and engage the enemy."

"Yes Admiral, transmitting orders."

He focused the holographic display at the enemy ships: Their profiles were like nothing he had ever seen before; they look sturdy but elegant sharing a similar configuration yet not identical shape between the ships types, forty small cruisers and nine small size dreadnoughts at the center of the formation were directing fire on his fleet. This wasn't a pirate group. It wasn't a mercenary group either, which left only one option for so many large ships of unknown design. He had encountered a new race and his actions had hidden them from the Citadel's diplomatic corps.

To make matters worse, under his orders, the Second Patrol Fleet had fired on their scouting force, attacked their escort ships, invaded their space, and had now, just to make sure there was no way left to salvage the situation, engaged one of their main fleets in open warfare.

The shame in his gut burned hotter as he suddenly remembered the single ship coming through the relay carrying the 'cyber-weapon' with the completely unknown programming language that had been broadcast at his fleet. Far from a malicious attack, it now seemed likely that it had actually been some sort of first contact package used as a last attempt to try and resolve the Second Patrol Fleet's attacks peacefully.

He had responded by taking the whole fleet through the relay.

_Spirits take me, _he said to himself.

Another shot from one of the alien dreadnoughts was felt across the ship.

"Kinetic barriers below 60%. Our cruiser defense line is being decimated." His tactical officer shouted in distress, before announcing better news. "Fighters have been deployed."

He was hoping his fighters could tip the balance, the battle was not going on their favor: for any ship that had been able to turn and returned fire to the enemy ships, they were at least four more that had been either cripple or destroyed. Not to mention the enemy vessels seem to be equal in technology to his, the enemy ships kinetic barriers flared and their armor received impacts, but few of them seem to be suffering serious damage.

"Admiral we have completed our turn, we have a firing solution on the enemy ships" his banner captain informed him with glee.

"Open fire target the cruisers" he ordered.

A mass accelerator round from the implacable was fired at relativistic speeds hitting an enemy cruiser with a power of 50 kilotons.

Admiral Varkus smiled as he watched the enemy cruiser exploding in pieces with a single shot of his main gun.

"Our fighters are approaching enemy fleet and preparing to attack, entering enemy guardian range in 20 seconds." Tactical reported.

"Admiral enemy mobile base is deploying its fighter compliment" his scanner officer shouted. In an instant the tactical hologram switched to a closer view of the kilometer long star base, fighters and corvettes alike were being spited out of the maws of the vessel like a group of insects abandoning their nest.

"Enemy fleet is moving towards us" his tactical officer informed him. "Enemy cruisers, dreadnoughts and frigates moving in formation with the frigates and attack craft acting as the vanguard" he explained.

_Attempting to close fire range for your smaller vessels ehh?_ He though; trying to guess his opponent tactics until a single realization hit him as he looked back at the enemy vanguard frigates.

"Target the enemy frigates, do not let them fire that energy weapon on our ships" he ordered, as his ships opened fire on the enemy frigates with the Implacable's main gun destroying one with a single shot.

As his 600 fighters approached the enemy fleet, the enemy smaller vessels converged to meet them.

"Spirits! Casualties, multiple casualties! Fighters are taking heavy guardian fire." Tactical practically screamed in horror as friendly transponders winked off the tactical display at an astounding rate.

"Enemy corvettes seemed to carry highly advance Gardian Arrays" he explained.

Admiral Varkus watched in horror as his fighters were blinking out of existence, under the ruthlessly efficient fire of the enemy corvettes. He had never seen anything like that, not even the salarians made use of such an advance laser system and targeting algorithm.

"Fighter force down to 450 vessels" his tactical officer shouted in shock, before acquiring an even more concern look. "Enemy frigate group has divided into two groups of ten converging on our fleet from the flanks."

The hologram once again switched to general view of the battlefield.

He looked back to the display as he watched the enemy vanguard fleet dividing into three groups with the cruisers and dreadnoughts on the center and the frigates moving to the flanks.

"Send our available frigates to intercept them, and ordered all the ships that had been able to turn to concentrate fire on the dreadnoughts, one of them must be the enemy banner ship" he ordered.

"Frigate group is suffering tremendous casualties; the enemy frigates are heavily armed yet they are too maneuverable for our cruisers to fix aim properly" His comm officer shouted.

Looking back at the display Admiral Varkus could see the enemy frigates scattering into groups of two, pursuing his frigates in dog fight vectors and unleashing that energy beam on his ships taking them down with ease.

"Prepare torpedoes and target the frigates, we cannot let them unleash that energy beam on our cruisers" he ordered.

"Admiral, enemy fighter group has overwhelmed our fighter screen and is converging on our position from all sides" Comm officer shouted in shock.

The enemy commander was trying to take his dreadnought out of the fight before he had been able to turn and aim his main gun on its forces. He nodded in respect to his opponent, as his cruiser and frigate group closed in to support him.

"Admiral Energy readings on the enemy dreadnoughts are spiking off the scale" scanner informed.

As Varkus looked at the display his face contorted with terror as he realized the enemy's plan.

"TARGET THE DREADNOUGHTS NOW" he shouted with desperation.

In the display the remaining enemy cruisers broke their defensive formation around the nine dreadnoughts as each of the 780 meters long vessels fired a blue beam of energy identical to the ones used by the frigates only with an energy output several times larger.

In an instant nine front line ships on the turian formation were annihilated by the enemy dreadnoughts' energy beams.

The Implacable fired its main gun on the middle dreadnought in the formation, but while the barriers of the ships were shattered the ship's heavy armor resisted with only minor damage on its port side, and one destroyed gun turret.

"Enemy fighters in proximity, guardian arrays are performing targeting solutions" the tactical officer advised.

The enemy fighters while numerous and maneuverable were being targeted and shoot out of existence by the Turian point defense cannons, yet many of them had been able to released their cargo of disruptor missiles before being destroyed. In an instant five more turian cruisers and eight frigates vanished from existence under the bombardment round, the last enemy fighter groups released their remaining torpedoes on the main gun battery and the three remaining engines of the HWS Implacable.

The vessel was shaken like a boat on a storm, Admiral Varkus could watch in the hologram display that his defense line has been broken, his fleet has been decimated and the only turian vessel capable of turning the tide of the battle was dead in the water.

He watched to his delight as one of the enemy dreadnoughts blew up out of existence under the remaining Turian firepower, but the remaining eight continued to fire on his remaining vessels with both their mass accelerators and energy beams.

"Order whatever frigate unit still in operation to head for the relay" he shouted to his confused crew.

"We need to warn the Hierarchy and the Council, we might have just awakened a sleeping thrasher maw. The Intel from this battle must be made known to the Citadel for them to prepare a capable defense" his crew switched to action, feeling him with a sense of pride, despite the dread of the situation.

The enemy attack fighters and corvettes unleashed their remaining torpedoes on the still active turian ships surrounding the Implacable.

Under intense turian fire another enemy dreadnought was destroyed, but it was too late. The three leading ships of the formation maneuvered to aim their energy cannon right on the center of the Turian fleet.

_What have I done?_ Admiral Varkus thought.

The fate of the battle was finally decided when three full powered Tiamat cannons were fired on the _HWS Implacable. _Three wavelengths of molten uranium and metal pierced through the dreadnought's armor; burning crew, bulkheads, circuits and everything in between.

Finally in a flash of light comparable to a supernova, the ship exploded. For the very first time in nearly a thousand years a Turian dreadnought has been destroyed in battle.

-.

**2155.06.17 **

**Escort Carrier SSV Marcus Aurelius**

"Turian flagship destroyed" the tactical officer of the escort carrier shouted with joy.

"Understood! Order our cruisers and frigates to mop up the remaining the remaining active Turian ships but do not fire upon the crippled or disabled vessels. We need to secure as many prisoners officers as possible for Intel purposes" she ordered.

In just a few minutes the remaining turian cannons fell silent, before transports of marine detachments departed from the Escort Carrier and began selecting the most intact alien vessels to begin boarding operations.

The battle was over; humanity's first engagement with an alien species has ended in victory, for the very first time in what seems like days, Commodore Meltzer released a heavy sight.

"Regroup in a defensive formation, if any new vessel comes through the relay I want to be ready" she ordered to her crew, before coming to the report she was dreading. "Casualties report" she asked.

Her flag lieutenant Steven Hacket began listing the lost ships:

"We lost twelve destroyers; ten more are suffering several grades of damage; 2 heavy cruisers; eleven frigates" he explained. "As well as 87 fighter-bombers and 17 corvettes" he added with a solemn voice.

She swallowed hard thinking about all those men and women who had died under her command, but she looked at the holographic display on the center of the CIC, fragments of alien ships floated around the fifteen kilometer long mass relay. With only seventy ships they had faced a fleet of a hundred and fifty turian warships, supposedly the greatest military power on the galaxy, and they had been victorious.

"Order our support ships to recover any life pods from our vessels and to capture any from the enemy, ensure medical support is provided to everyone, but make the necessary security arrangements to ensure the safety and security of the prisoners" she ordered to the entire staff of the CIC.

Watching the holographic display once more she accessed the Intercom.

"Attention all ships, this is Commodore Lillian Meltzer" she said through the intercom causing the entire CIC and every crewman in the fleet to freeze in place.

"Today an alien force came to our territory, thinking they would find another primitive race for them to humble into submission or another client species for them to exert control. Yet even against superior numbers and facing the so called best fighting force in the galaxy, the Human fleet was victorious!" she declared with passion on her voice, bringing a wave of cheers from the CIC and every corner of the fleet.

"You are all a source of pride for the Terran Systems Alliance's navy and this battle shall be remembered through human history as the day when people from different Earth nations and colonies, yet all wearing the same uniform stood united and said in one voice: WE ARE HUMANS! AND WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT TO EXIST!" she shouted to the top of her lungs as another wave of cheers even louder than before burst across the fleet.

"BUT" she made a pause in a deadly serious tone, stopping the cheers and replacing them with silence. "We lost a lot of good people, men and women who served with distinction, and shall be remembered. And three Turian frigates were able to jump through the relay. The Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council, whatever they may be their intentions shall return in greater numbers; and we will be ready, Terra Aeternum."

"TERRA AETERNUM" was repeated across the fleet, in deadly serious tones, yet lace with determination.

-.

**CODEX:**

**-Terran Alliance's navy formations and composition:**

**Formations:**

During the First Contact War (2155), the Alliance's navy has already developed highly advance military doctrines; focusing on mobility, endurance and the use of technology and non-regular tactics to face against greater numbers and firepower.

The use of an alternate FTL technology as well as human understanding of naval warfare ensured that the Human fleet was able to distinguish greatly to the fleets of other races. While Turian, salarians and Asari prefer to standardize their entire navies in fleets of frigates, cruisers and the rare sight of dreadnoughts with the last being more than anything a "larger version of their cruiser", the humans preferred to give their navy a greater level of versatility and efficiency yet perhaps sacrificing uniformity by adding three new vessel types into their fleet: the heavy cruiser, the escort carrier and the fleet carrier.

The first is meant to be a middle term between a cruiser and a dreadnought while also allowing a considerable reduction in cost at ship production by making the light cruiser or destroyer the basic unit of their navy; with the frigate being the multi-role purpose ship of the navy.

The escort carrier is the "centurion" of the standard Alliance Flotilla, a carrier does not rely on its main guns like a dreadnought instead it serves like a mobile command center for the flotilla, and small attack vessels deployment base. The last ship is also the only type of vessel that exists in even smaller numbers than dreadnoughts, the fleet carrier is the central ship of the regular Sector wide Terran Alliance Battle fleet, and with its immense compliment of fighters, bombers and corvettes is capable of attacking any position at distances of light years making it perhaps even more dangerous than the largest dreadnought.

Human vessels also rarely operated alone, preferring to organize in tight well coordinate formations. The only vessel in the human navy that operates alone is the stealth reconnaissance frigate.

-.

**-Frigate wolf pack:** (5 ships): Recon unit for minor patrol or reconnaissance operations. The human term for a frigate varren pack squadron; these are groups of 5 frigates used for the lowest priority patrols, advance scouting by human fleets for quick raids and anti-strike craft defense in battle.

The CO is the lead ship's captain, a Lieutenant Commander.

Unit: 5 frigates

-.

**-Cruiser squadron:** (4-12 ships): Basic unit for patrol of FTL lanes between systems and to guard small installations. The CO is the lead ship's captain, a Commander.

Sub Strength: 4 destroyers

Full strength: 6 destroyers; 1 heavy cruiser; 5 frigates

-.

**-Cruiser detachment:** (18-25 ships): Patrol unit or minor defensive fleet assigned to guard medium sized installations and to garrison systems with only Dome class garden worlds present. The CO is a Captain.

Sub Strength: 6 destroyers; 3 heavy cruisers; 5 frigates

Full strength: 8 destroyers; 3 heavy cruisers; 10 frigates

-.

**-Flotilla group:** (32-60 ships): System wide defensive fleet; flotillas are also the building blocks of Alliance fleets.

The CO is a Commodore with two flag captains in addition to the one on their flagship helping to command the formation.

A flotilla under Commodore Lillian Meltzer was the first human formation to engage an alien force in open (intended) battle. The encounter is still taught in turian military history classes today.

Sub Strength: 5 heavy cruiser; 12 destroyers; 15 frigates

Full strength: 1 escort carrier; 9 heavy cruisers; 25 destroyers; 25 frigates

-.

**-Sector Battle fleet:** (360/600 ships): At the outbreak of the First Contact War (Relay 314 Incident) the Terran Alliance had twelve active battle fleets protecting each sector of Alliance space. Organized by the combination of several flotillas and centered on a Fleet carrier acting as the flag ship and two dreadnoughts.

The largest fleet on the Alliance is the Terran Home Fleet task with the protection of the Sol system and the Local Cluster; while the most powerful and better equipped fleet is the Second fleet assign to the Erebus Nexus which is the main rapid deployment point of the entire Alliance fleet.

The CO is an Admiral with two Vice Admirals and one Rear Admiral helping to command the fleet.

6 flotillas: 54 heavy cruisers; 150 cruisers; 150 frigates; 6 escort carrier; 2 dreadnoughts; 1 fleet carrier

10 flotillas: 90 heavy cruisers; 250 destroyers; 250 frigates; 10 escort carrier; 2 dreadnoughts; 1 fleet carrier

-.

**-Terran Battle Group: **Nearly a thousand ships or more, for massive operations in case of total war; they are conformed by several battle fleets. Generally assembled at the Erebus Nexus for rapid travel to any part of the Alliance or the galaxy, they are only assembled when a massive threat to the Terran Alliance is declared.

The CO is a Fleet Admiral or the Supreme Commander of the Alliance military with the rest of the admirals and officers commanding the battle fleets.

3-5 Battle Fleets + 1 super capital ship

-.

**-Rift Gate Network – Logistic and strategic system:** A standard rift gate is in simple terms a combination of a hadron collider with a dimensional tear opening Lutece Device. Ranging from 1 kilometer of diameter up to 8, a rift gate can transport an entire fleet of star ships from its position to another site light year away, as long as the rift gate can generate enough power and target precise coordinates.

This last issue is the most critical logistic and strategic remark of the rift gates, a gravity field (be it a planet, a moon or even a decent size asteroid) is needed to "anchor" the "tear" in the space time continuum that serves as the "exit" for the portal created by the rift gate; in order to address this problem and reduce the expenditure of energy (reducing the time for a rift gate to recharge after creating an opening) another rift gate must be positioned in the intended coordinates forming a rift lane connecting the two points of space. This is only possible if the second rift gate stands compatible to the other: for example a rift gate two kilometers in length cannot connect to a 3 kilometer long rift gate; but the larger the rift gate is, the longer its effective range becomes.

Also the Alliance's navy makes use of Gravity well generators which serves as "beacons" and "anchors" for any rift opening; allowing them to "summon" a rift portal anywhere in the galaxy that is in range to a rift gate.

Unlike the mass effect relays, the rift gates have several differences: the primary being that the rift gates are not "bounded" one to the other, every rift gate is controlled by a powerful fully sentient IA and a control terminal that programs and calculates the intended exit and connections between rift gates, allowing the network to be far more flexible and versatile, like it is the case with the Erebus Nexus which contains several mounted rift gates and can connect to every one of them no matter the distance because the power output of the station is so massive that can stabilize a "tear" in almost any point of the galaxy. It is also worth mentioning that the transfer between coordinates even by lengths of thousands of light years is instantaneous as there is no time lag between transfers.

**-Columbia Class Destroyer:** The basic front line ship of the Alliance's fleet, the Columbia class light cruiser stands 520 meters in length and carrying a crew compliment of 450 including a marine detachment from time to time for special operations. Commissioned by the Hephaestus heavy engineering corps the Columbia was the first ship in a massive modernization program following project Yggdrasil, instead of the bulky delta shape Razor class vessel, the Columbia combines modular armor plating on the upper side and engines with the axial mounted main gun and the ships central body in the lower side.

With several light mass accelerator cannons placed above and below giving the ship the capability to continue firing upon the enemy even in retreat or in high risk maneuvers. As most Alliance ships, the Columbia is an FTL capable vessel and it is equipped with Guardian arrays point defense systems.

Alliance's destroyers are named after Earth cities.

**-Baikal Class Heavy Cruiser:** Also born after the last modernization program and project Yggdrasil, the first Baikal class was constructed in the orbital dry-docks of the russian colony vynoslivost. Nearly as powerful and perhaps just as resilient as a dreadnought the Baikal class heavy cruiser is 780 meters long and carries a crew of 750. Her main gun and Tiamat cannon make it one of the most feared vessels of the Alliance's navy.

Alliance's heavy cruisers are named after Earth lakes.

**-Cicerón Class Escort Carrier:** The last vessel born after the modernization program of the navy, the Ciceron class stands as a symbol of the technological and military might of the System Alliance. At a length of 1100 meters and a crew of 1600, the Ciceron is a colossus in which its lack of heavy weapons with the exception of missiles and its guardian array defense system is offset by its considerable cargo of smaller attack vessels.

Yet the most important attribute of the Ciceron is the presence of one of the most valuable and advance artifacts ever developed by the System Alliance, a Lutece Rift Siphon which enables the ship to link directly with the rift gate network and stabilize an opening in its position capable of connecting to either a regular set of coordinates or any nearby rift gates, without gravity well anchors or a rift gate of any type.

The Escort Carriers are named after famous generals or figures from human history.

-.

**ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:**

**DahakStaz:** A my favorite and most loyal follower, good to see you; and yes your ideas are very appreciated, for now I will answer your questions without spoiling too much of the story.

The ion lasers are based on the weapons from Bioshock 2 DLC Minerva's Den; the Terran Alliance ion lasers in this story cannot bypass kinetic barriers, what they do is depolarizing the kinetic barrier in the area of exposure, frying circuits in the process; because they project negative ion particles that react with the eezo catalysts. They can be used against infantry and ships with tremendous effect; but the problem with energy weapons is that unlike mass accelerators they tend to lose their effect as range increases, losing their power and effect as the energy is lost by heat and radiation dispersion.

Planetary cannons will appear on this story sooner or later, but not in Shanxi as it is a small colony of little strategic importance.

**Janne Rolfe Jalandoni:** Good to see my Terran Alliance already has such fervent patriots.

**AmanoRyo:** I hope you liked the battle in this chapter

**Papon777:** Thanks, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. And those answers shall be revealed sooner or later

**bksniper1:** Regarding your question there are always groups who disagree with the actions taken by the government and will attempt to do anything to disrupt the peace not only to accomplished their beliefs, but also to take power for themselves.

**Superpierce:** More or less, you will see

**XXXXX**

**It has been a while; I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. It took me a lot of time to finish it. I was greately inspired by two other magnificent Fanfics: The Fourth Council Race » by Knight Vigilant Koren; and Mass Effect: A new past » by Bombsquad.**

**As always I own nothing, I hope I will be able to continue with this story**


	7. Chapter 6: Fist and Talon

**Chapter 6: Fist and Talon**

**I was surprised by the overwhelming support and excitement regarding my new story and I was overjoyed by the reactions and comments on the Terran Alliance. I know many of my followers were disappointed by my abandonment of No Gods no kings; but the previous story was not developing well by the addition of the kashani and talosians.**

**This is most than anything a study on worldbuilding with Bioshock: Rapture and Coulmbia's technologies, characters and philosophies mixed into the mass effect universe which unfortunately contains various plot holes.**

**This will be my true original chapter in which this storyline takes its own path outside the previous story, while also correcting various mistakes from the previous version.**

Hope you like my new art work:

hicarus666/art/Terran-System-Alliance-Flag 811314800?ga_submit_new=10%3A1567009350

XXXXX

_Aut inveniam viam aut faciam_

"_I shall either find a way or make one"_

-.

**2155.06.17**

**Turian Cruiser HWS Nurrukan**

Once the Implacable has been destroyed, it was just a matter of time before the remaining Turians ships fell down as well. Luckily for a young Turian soldier, the cruiser in which he was onboard has been targeted carefully by the unknown warships: they had lost their weapons and propulsion but life support systems and the hull have been left intact.

A few hours after communications reported the departure of transport ships from the enemy cruisers a transmission was broadcast all across the ship.

"Attention alien crews, this is Commodore Lillian Meltzer commanding officer of this system defense flotilla. We have hacked into your computers and translated your language; I am speaking to the remaining officers and crewmen present in the name of the Terran Systems Alliance. Listen!" she made a pause.

"Your fleet has been defeated and your remaining ships have been crippled. Whoever you are, it was your ships the ones that attacked our survey group in the nearby cluster and invaded our territory; please understand our intentions were to protect this system from outsiders. A great deal of casualties has been inflicted on both sides; many have died in this battle, we have no intentions to add more dead into the pile. We are currently sending boarding units to secure your remaining vessels. Stand down and surrender, all of you will be imprisoned but not mistreated and eventually you will be release if your government negotiates an end of hostilities. Stand down, and do not resist our forces!" the female voice ordered with a confident voice.

Some of his fellow Turians crewmen wanted to accept the offer believing these aliens may honor their word, yet most of them were still determined to fight while they also believed these terrans as they call themselves may be pirates or savages, not different than the krogans or batarians many of them were used to deal with on a daily basis.

In Kioren's ship the Turian soldiers entrenched themselves in the critical areas of the vessel: the engineering deck, the armory and the Bridge; as soon as they got confirmation that the boarding crafts have pierced the hull, everyone prepared for combat. Minutes felt like hours as they received reports from every corner of the ship that the alien soldiers were advancing through the vessel killing or capturing the crew.

As they lost contact with engineering, Kioren and his fellow turians prepared to defend the bridge to the last soldier. An ominous silence fell down over the room when they lost contact with the rest of the ship, and the internal sensors confirmed that the enemy unit was just on the other side of the doors. There were only two entrances to the bride and every weapon on the room was aiming towards them, ready to kill whatever came through.

Yet the attack didn't came in front of them but from behind, an anomaly similar to a biotic's warp appeared behind their position in a corner of the bridge, it was like a twister of energy and white lightning that spited two metallic cylinder shape objects. Despite the shock from the anomaly, Kioren's instincts and training told him to ran and take cover; those were grenades no matter from where they came from.

As the grenades exploded creating a smoke curtain, Kioren could have sworn something else came through the anomaly even with his sight obstructed by the smoke. He was proved right when enemy fire came from the other side of the bridge; the distinct sound of mass accelerator rounds which killed two standing turians before the rest could even react accompanying them. The turian defenders quickly changed their covering positions before returning fire as the enemy soldiers in the bridge took cover themselves.

Kioren managed to land a few hits on one the enemy soldiers but their kinetic barriers sustained his shots. There were 12 turians alive on the bridge against only 3 unknown soldiers, but these were unlike any soldiers Kioren has ever seen before, all of them wear pitch black armors with blue and golden stripes going from the shoulders to the legs and protective masks on their heads which hide their features; one of them seemed different that the other two, slimmer, shorter and with an asari like body shape.

A fellow turian soldier asked for cover fire which Kioren provided as his comrade threw a grenade, yet the explosive was stop in midair by a yellow aura projected by the female alien commando before the grenade was returned to its thrower.

"They have a biotic, kill it now!" the captain shouted as the turian next to Kioren was blown to bits, by the explosion of the grenade which sent pieces of shrapnel to every direction.

As Kioren's eardrums were ringing like a bell because of the grenade, the entire bridge was shaken as if the ship itself was under fire.

A metal beast even larger than a Krogan has barged into the room simply smashing through the metal door and sending it flying through the bridge. Compared to that iron beast even a yagh looked gentle: an enormous helmed with a dozen bright eyes stood as its head, heavy boots trampled on the floor, and a monstrous metal drill was on its right arm.

Everyone turned to shoot the metal beast yet the creature was unbelievable fast by its size, charging fast at the closest turian and unleashing a powerful kinetic blast like a biotic vanguard that shocked every turian close to it.

The crew watched in horror as the creature grabbed a stunned turian soldier by the leg, pinned him to the floor and with gory precision buried its drill into the soldier's chest, piercing through kinetic barrier, armor and the metallic carapace with ease, creating a horrific eruption of blue blood from the corpse as the man screamed in tremendous pain for a second before going limp.

Kioren furiously fired his pistol at the creature until the gun overheated but the creature's barriers resisted. Terror replaced fury once more as his eyes caught glimpse of two more iron creatures coming through the gate, similar yet no identical to the first, both of them were less bulky yet just as tall and in their huge hands instead of drills were enormous guns that looked like heavy riffles.

One turian crewmember was killed by a single shot coming from one of the creature's gun, the soldier kinetic barriers merely flared before an enormous hole appeared on the Turian's chest, piercing the armor like if it was made of rubber.

As Kioren recharged his gun, one of the enemy commandos took advantage of the iron creatures attack and moved to flank him; before he could even fire at them the asari looking enemy summoned electric sparks from her left hand. As he turned his body and crosshair towards her a current of electricity went through Kioren's body, his muscles constrained as his carapace felt like it was on fire, with a sheering pain that touched every one of his nerves.

The last thing he saw as he slipped from consciousness was one of the iron creatures holding the Nurrukan's captain by the throat and hitting him against the bulkhead until he moved no longer.

-.

**2155.06.18**

**UNKNOWN**

**UNKNOWN**

Encrypted message:

_-´.´..,-.-.-´.-_-´*´-…-..,,-,-.-,-.-´-.-.

-..-.,-,-,-´-.,-,´.,-,-,-.-.-,-_,-_,.-´-,-

-.,-,-_,´-,.-,-,-´+-.-.-}-.-.-.,.-,.´-,-.

}{-..-.-´-,-,-.-.+-´-,-,-_.,-,.[-.,-,,-,-,-,-,-

-_-´-]-,.,.-,-´-.,..-,-_,.-,-[-.-,,-´´.-.,.-._

Decoding

TO: Hermes 319

FROM: ATLAS

Remarkable work operative Hermes, I know that the death of Lieutenant Commander Ramirez of the Hastings weights heavy on you, but the thousands that must die in this war will prevent the deaths of billions.

Installing an AI algorithm code in the Hastings computer alongside the translation matrix was brilliant; the turians with their irrational fear of AI technology sealed their fates when they destroyed Commander Ramirez's ship. I am surprised nevertheless by the victory of the Alliance navy on the battle of the Lambda-Zodiac relay; I was counting on a turian invasion at Shanxi to galvanize support for our cause, perhaps for better or worse I may have underestimated the tenacity of the Alliance fleet.

My contacts on the Alliance High Com are worried about this 'black fleet' the Turian codex has described, the fact that there is another species in possession of stealth technology and the Tiamat Magnetic-Hydrodynamic Weapon troubles me greatly; but I doubt whoever they are may represent a treat to us in the nearby future.

In any case your job there is done, leave Shanxi as soon as possible, another battle is coming to that colony. Remember that through our actions we will make sure that this war will be fight on our terms and with our victory, in order to put Earth in its rightful place as the center of the cosmos.

Terra Victoria

-.

**2155.06.18**

**Quinhai – Space Port**

**Lambda Expanse**

On the Space port of Quinhai thousands of people waited their turns to board the transports for the massive evacuation of the colony; a poorly erected camp resembling more like a massive neighborhood fair than a military installation surrounded the space port to support the thousands of inhabitants waiting to depart the planet.

On the large plaza next to the space port two dozen civilian Hercules super transports rested as waves of people climbed the ramps to board the ships.

General Williams has stationed troops in the area to maintain order and ensure that the evacuation was conducted in an organized matter.

As evacuation protocol demanded, women, children and the elderly were send in the first wave while the rest of the civilians were send afterwards, the last wave was formed by the colony's vital nonmilitary personal.

After the victory at the battle of the Lambda-Zodiac relay morale was high through the population and garrison, the navy's triumph over the turian fleet has also managed to force the politicians in the Parliament at Erebus to stop bickering and start working towards the defense of the Shanxi and the Alliance.

Alliance High Command has ordered the admiral of the Eleventh fleet to gather up with the sixth fleet on Kalinos station to defend the cluster while reinforcements under the command of Rear Admiral James Su Kwon have arrived through the Fujian-Delta rift gate to protect the Fujian-Alpha system. Several ground reinforcements have come as well, including two armored divisions with heavy praetorians and a regiment of Special Forces led by an N7 team.

In orbit of Shanxi fifteen Crius super freighters were continuously sending drop ships while connecting to the rift portals on the city in order to allow the evacuees to come onboard. Those enormous vessels were of civilian construction despite their colossal size, which was usually reserved for military dreadnoughts at least on ships using mass effect cores whose scale was limited by the size of their drive core and amount of element zero used on their construction. The super freighters constituted the pride of the Alliance civilian and merchant navy.

The private sector of the Alliance was the bulk of the nation's economy, and the largest corporations hold entire fleets of normal cargo ships designed to travel through the mass relays as well enormous super freighters powered by singularity reactors that only traveled through the rift gates but they were not constricted by the size and scale limitations that the mass effect cores imposed on normal ship's design.

Ryan-Fontaine Industries the largest corporation on human space was say to be in possession of a fleet with two dozen super freighters and hundreds of normal cargo ships.

Say what you want of greedy industrialists and businessmen but from time to time they tend to prove to be better than the politicians or at least less prone to take days to decide on something.

The news of an Alliance fleet victory have emboldened several members of the General Assembly who had a lot of corporate and economic support so half a dozen CEOs of mayor corporations have provided their ships and resources to aid in Shanxi's evacuation.

With any luck they will be able to evacuate at least 70% of Shanxi's population by the end of the week. If the Turians attack at least they will be safe.

"General Williams" his communication officer a Chinese girl on her twenties approached to him and saluted, she carried a data pad on her hand. "The settlement of Freedom Town has refused to evacuate" she informed him.

He looked at the report; Freedom Town was a missionary settlement with a strict set of beliefs, preaching socialism and sustainable agricultural living in a Christian society. It was not a surprise they have come to Shanxi which was a small frontier colony, in Inner or Outer colonies they probably would not have been welcomed with open arms.

The leader of Freedom Town was a pseudo scientist named Isaac Walker and his second in command was a neurologist and therapist, Doctor Sofia Lamb, General Williams would never admitted but that woman gave him the creeps.

"Fine if they don't want to leave, then we cannot force them" he ordered.

"Are you sure sir?" the girl asked.

"With our reinforcements, an alien attack on the colony seems unlikely" he explained. "Besides I don't want any of those idiots accusing us of religious persecution" he declared.

The girl nodded in agreement and turned around to continue her work, as the General return to oversee the evacuation.

_There is a camp with more than a million people who cannot wait to leave this goddam planet and those idiots are acting as like nothing is happening. For once I hope that they are right._

-.

**2155.06.20**

**Palaven, Turian High Command**

General Desolas Arterius listened to the report of the only survivors from the battle at the relay 314 with barely disguised contempt. He had always known Admiral Varkus had been weak willed, but he never thought he could be that stupid to lose his entire fleet including his own banner ship to a fleet of unknown ships. The recording from the battle reached only to the destruction of the HWS Implacable by the enemy light dreadnoughts, at that point the three survivor frigates were able to turn towards the relay and escape.

The destruction of an entire Krogan DMZ patrol fleet has shocked the entire gathering even the Primarch.

"This newly discovered species seems to possess a powerful fleet. What more can you tell us about them, did you manage to learn anything of the system they were defending?" General Orinia from the 8° Legion asked the commanding officer of the survivor frigate a Lieutenant Naoklin.

"Our preliminary scan indicated the presence of a single garden class world on the system alongside several artificial stations" he made a pause. "It is clear the unknown fleet was tasked with protecting the system or perhaps the entire cluster" he suggested.

The holographic display that has been showing the battle and the observations of the unknown ships soon turned to display the green planet scanned from distance by the Turian fleet. The planet itself looked unremarkable, just another small size garden world, without any indications of massive urbanization or settlement, clearly a small size colony in early stages, not even near the industrial power a species homeworld should have been, in order to be capable of sustaining the ship building capabilities necessary to build those ships.

"What about the enemy ships, what does our analysis tell us about their design and military doctrine?" The Primarch asked, to the engineering and military team assigned to investigate.

"After analyzing the recordings from the battle we can confirm that this species relies on the standard formations of frigates and cruisers, however after further studies we can confirm that the 780 meters long warship previously designated as Dreadnought or light Dreadnought by the Second patrol fleet's VA is most likely a middle term between a small regular cruiser and a fully size modern dreadnought: A heavy cruiser in simple terms" the lead analyst made a pause before continuing.

"This type of ship in particular has not been seen or produce since the fall of the Quarian Federation after the Geth rebellion centuries ago" he added.

"And as for the largest unknown ship, designated before as Mobile Starbase; we believe this ship must be in fact a non-armed support capital ship tasked with carry small combat vessels into battle" the reaction of the room was of downright confusion.

"Why would a species with the technological and industrial capabilities to build a full size dreadnought rely instead on a non-armed carrier vessel" Desolas Arterius found himself asking.

"Well general" the analyst answered. "It very likely that this species like us is aware of the destructive power of a kilometer long dreadnought and its axial gun; preferring instead to relegate the 'big gun' task of the fleet to the cheaper and less destructive Heavy Cruiser while giving the role of commanding vessel or banner ship to this 'Transport Ship' which relies on its compliment of strike craft to fight instead of its own weapons" the lead analyst explained.

"Enough of this" Admiral Nyreen Survan shouted bringing the attention of the whole room towards her. "We have lost half of an entire patrol fleet including a spirits dammed Dreadnought, we need to retaliate with overwhelming force against these primitives. Show them the full might of the Turian Hierarchy and avenge the deaths of our turian brothers and sisters" she declared with conviction.

Everyone in the room held silence.

"Are you asking the Hierarchy to declare war on a species we do not know anything about?" General Orinia asked indignation clearly on her voice.

"Dr Ortanion does your team managed to recover anything from their first contact package?" The Primarch asked.

"Actually yes, Primarch, despite the fact that the information transmitted by the alien probe was either quarantined or erased after Admiral Varkus communication officer classified it as a Cyber-attack. We managed to recover some information from the computer of the surviving frigate Verrikan. While the code containing the language of this species was too degraded, we were able to recover some images and messages" he explained.

The hologram display began showing two pair of creatures both very similar to the Asari, one of them looked like a male with a muscular body and an anatomy similar to an asari or drell; five fingers on each hand, two eyes and fur growing on their heads probably an species evolved to resist extreme cold temperatures. The female of the species looked more refined and almost indistinguishable in anatomy from a regular Asari.

"These new species apparently call themselves Humans; we do not know if they are levo or dextro base species, nor the nature of their culture and society. We were also able to recover an image of this planet in particular" the image of another garden world with ocean coverage over 70% of the planet surface appeared on the display. "We believe this must be their homeworld, they call it Earth or Terra, as the translator must have decoded the literal translation to the name of the planet" he explained.

"Well these humans as whatever they call themselves have declared war on the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council" Admiral Survan stated.

"With all due respect Admiral, it was Admiral Varkus the one that decided to attack this species survey group, ignored their first contact package and crossed the relay directly to invade their territory" General Orinia stated.

"We must send a report of this to the Council in order to prepare a diplomatic mission and fix this disaster before we have a full scale war in our talons" she explained.

"There is already a war, these humans defeated an entire Turian fleet and dreadnought with relative ease. If we do not strike hard and strike fast, they may think we are an easy prey and attack us. Not to mention that if these aliens were able to recover any Intel from the computers and systems from Admiral Varkus destroyed fleet, they may know almost everything of us, from the strength of our ships and fleets to the location of Palaven and the Citadel. We must make a counterattack to find everything about them and their military capabilities as well as avenge our fallen comrades killed by these barbarians" Superior Admiral Justinius stated.

"Most importantly the fact that the humans positioned a ship longer than a kilometer long and nine small dreadnoughts then that must mean their homeworld is located close to this colony, perhaps in the same or nearby cluster" he made a pause to allow this fact in particular to settled on the audience.

"If we take this system swiftly and destroy this fleet we may be able to force a complete unconditional surrender from them" Superior Admiral Justinius suggested.

"Unconditional surrender?" another Admiral asked. "What are we? Krogan? We are the peacekeeper force of the Council, we do not seek war; we prevent them" he stated.

"While I do share your sentiments Admiral Victus; Superior Admiral Justinius has a good point, not to mention that Lieutenant Oren Daelanuss report mentions that the powerful direct energy weapon used by the Pirate Black Fleet on the attacks at the Attican Traverse is very similar to the one these humans have installed on their frigates and heavy cruisers. These humans have either provided the technology for the pirates of the terminus system or vice versa, it is clear we are not dealing with a primitive species on an earlier stage of colonization. This is an empire in consolidation, with advance technology and tactics. We are dangerously low on information about this species and the defeat of Admiral Varkus fleet leaves us in precarious position with the Council" the Primarch stated scratching his chin with his long talons.

"That is why we must find answers!" General Desolas Arterius shouted as he stood up calling up the attention of the whole room.

"These aliens, these humans" he spited the word as if he was disgusted by it. "Have killed our brother and sisters, and humiliated the Hierarchy. We are Turians, we defeated the Krogan, and we have ensured a thousand years of peace for the galaxy. Whoever their values and reach may be, it is clear we are dealing with a species completely ignorant of galactic law. For the wellbeing of the Hierarchy and the Citadel Council, we must show these primitives their place" he declared with equal parts arrogance and conviction.

For a moment everyone keep silence, looking at the arrogant General Arterius with a degree of agreement.

"We won't go to war just for the lack of information and simple pride; but we must show our strength if we are to rectify this situation" The Primarch finally sentenced.

"Superior Admiral Justinius shall lead the third fleet alongside Admiral Survan's Eleventh Fleet and Admiral Victus's Tenth Fleet, as well as General Orinia's Eight Legion. You are to establish first contact with this race; the full strength of three turian fleets will be enough to force their surrender and bring them into the negotiation table without conditions" he made a pause.

"If they resist you have authorization to occupy the garden world and find everything you can about this species: Economy, military, technological capabilities, government and culture. I will send a full report to the Council and explain the situation; if the humans have any connection to the Terminus Black Fleet then our actions are entirely justifiable" he made a pause and took a deep breath.

"May the spirits watch over us" he sentenced.

-.

**2155.06.21**

**SSV Arbela, detention deck**

Kioren Pratinus wanted to die; only spirits knew how long he and the rest of his Turian brothers and sisters have been trapped in this spirits cursed alien vessel, they have disabled their omni tools and the absence of a clear time pattern prevented them from knowing the passage of time. They were all locked inside individual metal container cells with glass windows that stoo meters long.

For the standard rotation of shifts between their guards, he and the rest of his turian brethren had calculated that at least four rotations had passed since their capture. Kioren's mandibles and teeth clenched in rage as he remembered the events subsequent to the ambush near the newly activated mass relay.

"Pratinus!" a human guard shouted practically butchering his name, Kioren on his cell stood up. "Come with us" the human soldier ordered.

Kioren made no attempt to resist; they put handcuffs on his talons and he simply followed the human soldiers as the rest of his fellow turian prisoners looked at him with concern. He knew they were going to interrogate him, he was not afraid to die, but he did not want to be torture or humiliate. Walking into the interrogation room he felt his mouth going dry with a metallic taste on his tongue.

In front of him at the other side of a desk was a young human female, beautiful for human or asari standards with elegant golden fur growing on her head, and bright golden eyes that made him feel as if they could carve their way into his soul.

-.

**2155.06.25**

**SSV Lhotse - Alliance Dreadnought**

**Zodiac-Alpha System; Zodiac Cluster**

After the victory of Commodore Meltzer on the battle of Fujian-Alpha and the recovery of critical information from the Turian Computers, High Command has ordered the deployment of the bulk of the Eleventh fleet to defend Shanxi and the system; three flotillas with their escort carriers have joined Commodore Meltzer fleet, forming a full contingent of two hundred ships centered on the dreadnought SSV Lhotse under the command of Rear Admiral James Su Kwon, one of the most respected commanders of the Alliance navy.

The Flagship of the eleventh fleet the fleet carrier SSV Aristotle and the Lhotse's sister ship the SSV Makalu with their respective squadrons were gathering up with the Sixth fleet on the Kalinos system in orbit of the colony of Rodin to protect the whole cluster in case of a massive invasion.

In the CIC of his ship Rear Admiral Su Kwon was looking at the holographic display in the table watching the entirety of the Alliance forces on the system.

With four flotillas and a dreadnought, it was certain they could protect the Fujian-Alpha system from an entire turian fleet, even if they were outnumbered two to one. The Lhotse was a powerhouse vessel with a main gun of 150 kilotons and two Tiamat cannons of dreadnought size.

Also his fleet had several advantageous traits, while the Eleventh Fleet was one of the smallest in the Alliance with only five flotillas in its formation several ships on the Eleventh fleet have received upgrades and have been equipped with state of the art technology. After all the Eleventh fleet was headquartered on Rodin, one of the most technologically advance colonies on human space and the largest center of synthetic production on the Alliance; with several businessmen willing to grant discounts and attractive offers to military commanders eager to upgrade their warships within the limits of Alliance regulations.

Among his vessels there were two warships unique amongst the cruisers of the Alliance fleet the SSV Thebes and the SSV Corinth. They carried no weapons, not even guardian point defense systems and their shapes with an elongated body on the center and a ring around it could have confused those ships as civilian transports from before element zero and artificial gravity era. Yet the rings were not living spaces for the crew relying in inertial artificial G, they were antimatter colliders, generating a tremendous output of concentrated energy.

Used in the right time those two Numantia Class shield Cruisers could project a massive elliptic shape tachyon barrier capable of covering a radius of a dozen kilometers to shield a whole fleet from enemy fire, incoming asteroids and radiation that could threaten them.

Rear admiral James Su Kwon stood in the CIC of his flag ship the Aconcagua class Dreadnought Lhotse looking at the relay on the edge of the system waiting for anything or anyone to come through.

It was not hard to convince High Com and the rest of the fleet commanders to cross the relay and engage any new incoming enemy at the Zodiac-Alpha system instead of risking the lives of the citizens of Shanxi. Despite the fact several politicians and the most cautious members of High Com have protested against it claiming that sending a full fleet to Citadel Council occupied space could be interpreted as an unmistakable act of aggression and war while the defense of Fujian-Alpha was simple self-defense.

But from a tactical perspective their chances of victory increased with a greater number of relays through which they could retreat if the enemy overwhelmed them. Also he has ordered the deployment of three reconnaissance probes through the relay into the Narraste cluster that could warn them of an incoming fleet, these probes hold minimal stealth capabilities so they would be hard to detect by other ships at long range scanners.

Now he only had to wait for the Citadel Council or the turians to make their move, just like admiral Comstock used to say:_ If you can force your enemy to move just like you expect of him with your own position ready to take advantage of that, you will achieve certain victory._

He has observed several interrogations of turian officers; their military discipline was remarkable, most of them showed absolutely no fear nor distress even under captivity of unknown aliens, fighting them would most certainly be no easy task.

_Just have to wait now._

-.

**Two hours later:**

"Admiral Su Kwon!" his deck officer Lieutenant Eric Shepard shouted bringing the attention of the entire room. "The probes in the Narraste cluster have just reported the arrival of an immense turian fleet at the other side of the relay and we just lost contact with one of them" he informed them.

The CIC holographic table spring to life as it began to display a full battle turian group composed of nearly a thousand ships. As the turian's fleet close distance to the outer relay another probe was targeted and destroyed by a ship's mass accelerator gun. Now only one remained to transmit through the QEC, the signatures of the turian fleet.

"All ships battle stations" he ordered with a voice that left no place for doubts or hesitation.

Around him every men and women on the room jumped into activity as the ships of the fleet moved into position around their escort carriers with the Lhotse in the center of the formation.

Studying the general display of the solar system in which they were about to fight, he began to check for any tactical asset they could use. The two rocky planets were as death as Pluto or Mercury back on Sol and they couldn´t hardly be used as energy dumps and gravity anchors as they hold no atmosphere and only possessed weak magnetic cores to discharge the static energy and heat that his ships would generate in combat situation.

Defending the mass relays was not a good idea, he doubted the turians would be stupid enough to fall in the same trap a second time and even if they were, they hold the numbers to overcome their loses and steamrolled through his fleet once they have left FTL, defending the Zodiac-Fujian relay was even worse, the turian fleet could surround his fleet in all sides and completely overwhelm them in order to cross the Zodiac-Fujian relay and attack Fujian-Alpha and Shanxi.

Fighting that armada in open space was suicide; they were outnumbered more than four to one. Human vessels had a longer weapon's range and were more advanced but not that much especially against such odds; the turian lighter ships would just close distance to surround them.

The last two important objects in the system were two gas giants; one of them was at least 20% larger than Jupiter with a ring of asteroids in his orbit. He smiled to the display as an idea came to life in his mind remembering an old tactical scenario from the naval academy, his deck officer took notice of that and returned the smile as he knew what his CO was thinking.

"¿Admiral? ¿Do you wish to speak with the crew?" Lieutenant Tenembaum asked wearing a devilishly smile in his face.

"Yes lieutenant, open the intercom" he ordered returning the smile.

Accessing the coms to the whole fleet he took a deep breath.

"Attention all vessels, this is Rear Admiral James Su Kwon; the turians are at our door with an armada of nearly a thousand ships" he began as he made a pause letting that sink into the hearts of his fellow sailors and officers.

"It seems we have scared them enough to send an entire armada to fight us" he added.

"Retreating now would be the cautious action to do, but if we leave now before Shanxi's evacuation is complete we will be abandoning the millions of men, women and children of our colony to the turian's mercy, so we will not retreat yet" he made another pause.

"We are soldiers of the Terran Alliance we made an oath to defend our people and defend our homes even if that means giving our lives. We must fight the enemy here, and hold them off long enough for the evacuation ships on Shanxi to complete their retreat through the relay and rift gate".

"But make no mistake, the capture of any of our ships puts Earth and our people in danger; all of you are ordered to perform the Cole Protocol and make any possible sacrifice to prevent capture" he ordered.

"These xenos are a dangerous and disciplined force, but not a week ago an entire turian fleet got their asses handed to them by the Shanxi's defense fleet and Commodore Lillian Meltzer, we already know their tactics and their doctrines, while they do not know us, they do not know the strength of human spirit; so I say it's time to show them" he made a pause as a choir of yesses and shouts erupted across the CIC.

"We will show these turians the tenacity and determination of mankind" he made a pause as he took a deep breath.

"For Earth! For her colonies! For our people, for THE ALLIANCE! TERRA AETERNUM!" he declared with a voice that seemed capable of making the bulkheads tremble in fear.

Yesses, hurrahs, whistles and shouts erupted across all decks of every vessel within the system, as every men and women moved to their posts and prepared to fight to their last breath.

Under the Admiral orders the fleet moved to the orbit of the gas giant, burning their thrusters.

After they lost contact with the last probe they knew what was coming, now came the hardest part, the waiting.

Several hours passed until six unknown vessels came out of FTL near the relay, their movements performing such high gravity maneuvers, beyond what normal inertial dampeners could maintain and organic bodies could resist and their shapes resembling cylinders or missiles, made him determined that it was very likely that they were automated.

In an instant the six objects blew up with almost nuclear explosions.

The six missiles had detonated at points equidistant from the relay before detonating so that they could encompass the entire area around it in a huge blast of hard radiation and heat. Had his ships been positioned closer to the relay, they would have most likely been badly damaged and they would certainly have been blinded, leaving them unable to target any force following the drones through.

"Everyone battle stations, assume shield formation" he ordered.

-.

**2155.06.25**

**HWS Unification – Turian banner ship**

**Zodiac-Alpha System; Zodiac Cluster**

"Nova bombs have been detonated, arrival area is cleared Admiral Justinius" the superior captain of his flagship informed him. "Arrival in ten minutes" he sentenced.

"Thank you officer time to see if these aliens can truly fight" he answered, as he grinned thinking of the incoming battle, or more like incoming massacre actually.

_Frankly he felt that three turian fleets with their banner ships alongside two second line dreadnoughts was a tremendous overkill. He was confident that these humans may not put much of a fight._

_These primitives may have defeated that idiot of Varkus through sheer luck, but I am no idiot the full might of a thousand turian warships and five dreadnoughts is with me. I swear to the spirits that for every turian that they have already kill, I will destroy a hundred of them._

_Yet for a young space faring empire (otherwise they would have made contact with them far sooner) these humans were in possession of remarkable technology. A direct energy, laser beam capable of obliterating a cruiser with a single shot? A super hardened armor plating on their warships? If the Hierarchy could get their hands on this tech, it would ensure our dominance for centuries._

As the ships exited the relay, the tactical holographic table was brought to life with the star system display still distorted by the slow dissipation of the radiation field created by the Nova bombs.

In less than five minutes the captains and commanders of the turian fleets completed the transition through the relay and arranged their ships into their neat coordinated formations. With a thousand ships centered on the dreadnoughts _Vostra_, _Spirits of Justice, Resolution, Invictus_ and _Unification_.

"Admiral Scans have confirmed the presence of another fleet on the system" his tactical officer informed him. "IFFs signals confirm them as human vessels" he explained.

"How many?" he asked.

"More than two hundred ships: 87 cruisers, 88 frigates, 2 unknown vessels of cruiser weight, 34 light dreadnoughts, 4 mobile fighters bases and one super dreadnought size vessel" he informed, before making a pause, as the display focused on the largest human ship.

"Possible enemy banner ship stands 1350 meters long, with shape and design suggesting a spinal main mass accelerator gun of at least a hundred kilotons" he informed in a voice laced with a horrified admiration.

Everyone in the bridge exchanged looks of dread, that ship was larger (even though it was shorter in height and smaller in body scale) than the Destiny Ascension. Admiral Justinius was surprised at that, perhaps these aliens were not so primitive nor so new in space combat.

"Spirits just take a look at those guns" one of the officers in the CIC exclaimed as he looked at enormous turrets on top of the holographic model of the human banner ship.

"They are in high orbit around the gas giant at the other side of the system" the scan officer informed them.

"Admiral we are being hailed by the human fleet" the Comm officer told them.

_So they want to talk? Interesting_

In a second the hologram of the system and human vessels was replaced by the shape of a creature quite similar to an asari only that this one was more corpulent like a male drell also the top of his head and lower chin had threads of brown fur growing from the skin. Probably a species evolved to live in a cold environment.

"Turian fleet I am Rear Admiral James Su Kwon of the Terran Systems Alliance. State the intentions and reasons for the Hierarchy and the Citadel Council to invade our space and attack our vessels" the creatures said with a voice laced with authority and not a single ounce of hesitation was on his manners.

Everyone stood mouth agape; the message was in perfect translated Turian and he knew who they were, and who they represented.

Admiral Justinius narrowed his eyes in defiance looking at the human commander.

"I see you are wondering how I know who you are and why I have been able to translate your language so quickly" the other admiral asked while flexing his mouth in an Asari smile.

"Our technicians were able to access your computers rather quickly and recover all data of your Codex and military records. We have also been able to capture at least 500 Turians from the remains of Admiral Varkus's fleet. They have been imprisoned but they are alive and they are being treated well as it corresponds to our laws regarding prisoners of war and the rights of sentient beings" he made a pause before returning to an angry glare.

"Admiral Kwon I am Superior Admiral Justinius of the Turian Hierarchy. I have been ordered by the Hierarchy to make you answer for the destruction of Admiral Varkus's Second Patrol Fleet and the illegal activation of a mass relay. I invite you to peacefully surrender, lower your barriers, deactivate your weapons and prepare to be boarded, my officers will take command of your ships, your people shall be confined to their ships but they shall not be mistreated; also you will liberate all of your war prisoners and transfer them into my custody at once" he answered with authority.

"After that your fleet will escort us to your homeworld, so we can discuss a set terms with your leaders to ensure that your species shall answer for your transgressions and are correctly taught in galactic law" the turian admiral declared to the amazement of his bridge officers who were certain if the humans possessed even a fraction of the pride and arrogance of the krogans or batarians they would be completely insulted by Admiral Justinius' words and will never accept those terms.

_I don't expect them to, _the admiral thought.

The human admiral narrowed his eyes is disgust to the terms he had just heard, with his face contorting into an expression of pure hatred, if looks could kill, Admiral Justinius would have died a thousand times.

"Admiral Justinius, with all due respect, my people knew nothing about your laws regarding the activation of mass relays (that was a lie, but only those at his side of the transmission knew that) and when an alien squadron opened fire on unarmed research ships on this system a few days ago their escorts were forced to defend themselves against the turian forces that were attacking them in name of a set of rules we did not know" the human admiral declared.

"Then after the first engagement we sent a single ship the SSV Hastings to transmit a first contact package that Admiral Varkus choose to ignore before opening fire at the Hastings without provocation. Finally it Admiral Varkus fleet was the one which invaded our territory. The turian prisoners we interrogated revealed the reasons behind this attack. Let me say this loud and clear WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR TERMINUS SYSTEMS OR THIS GODDAMM BLACK FLEET YOUR OFFICERS HAVE ACCUSED US OF BEING PART OF" the human practically shouted to the top of his lungs.

"Now I will give you my terms, have your fleet retreat back through the relay, leave if you want a small flotilla of no more than 8 cruisers in this system which you can use to transport the Turian prisoners from the last battle back to their homes, I will order the release of those prisoners as a gesture of good will; after that you can call your friends the Asari and we can initiate peace talks and a true first contact" he made a pause and looked at Admiral Justinius with a gaze capable of making a Krogan flinch.

"If you refuse to those terms, then you should know that attacking this fleet and attempting to attack any of our colonies through the relay 314 shall not be interpreted as another misunderstanding, it will be A DECLARATION OF WAR against the Terran Systems Alliance; and my people are ready to fight to the last ship and soldier to defend their homes" he declared with conviction.

For a second both admirals shared looks of defiance as their respective bridge crews exchanged stares carrying different emotions varying from nervous fear to angry pride; before the turian admiral answered.

"This system is territory of the Citadel Council, you are the invaders Admiral Kwon" the turian answered. "If you will not accept my terms then you and your fleet shall be destroy! Your species brought this war upon yourselves and when we take your Earth, you ignorant newcomers shall learn not to challenge the authority of the Citadel Council and the Turian Hierarchy" he practically yelled.

The human did something unexpected at that, he flexed his mouth into an asari like smile and his stance surprisingly looked more relaxed after those words.

"Very well Admiral Justinius, I read in your codex that you Turians consider themselves to be the best fighting force in the galaxy" he made a pause looking at the turian admiral like a predator watching his prey. "I am eager to test that claim" he declared as his hologram vanished.

-.

**2155.06.25**

**Zodiac-Alpha System; Zodiac Cluster**

**SSV Lhotse - CIC**

"Assume diamond defensive formation" admiral Su Kwon ordered to his fleet. "As soon as the turian ships enter weapons range, open fire without disrupting the maneuver" he clarified.

Assuming the shape of a tile, with the four escort carriers on the top and the Lhotse at the tip of the formation the fleet continued to perform their high speed maneuver around the gas giant.

The Turian fleet burned their thrusters hard to meet them; it would have been quicker to perform an in system FTL jump, but an experienced commander knew that wasting energy in making a non-tactical short range jump could leave them in a precarious position should the battle required a sudden change of position.

Technically it was not really necessary to confront the human fleet on this system, they were not blocking the relays; Admiral Justinius fleet could just avoid them and move to the next system, but it was stupid to leave a fleet blocking your position and supply line to the enemy front, so the turian admiral needed to destroy them in order to begin his invasion of human space.

At the Lhotse CIC Admiral Su Kwon watched his opponent dividing his fleet into three separate flotillas.

-.

**HWS Unification - Bridge**

With the planet's asteroid ring blocking the most direct vector of approach, Admiral Justinius had his fleet divided into three units:

The bulk of his fleet with four of his five dreadnoughts moved above the ring to take a firing position on the human vessels.

The second a large flotilla of frigates under the command of Captain Sekeniun burned hard into the higher orbit of the planet to "race" the human fleet which was performing their slingshot maneuver around the gas giant, using the planet as a gravity slingshot to accelerate their movements, and avoid getting surrounded. If the frigates managed to shorten their distance they would have a clear shot on their thrusters and propulsion.

Finally the last squad composed of a squadron of cruisers and the second line dreadnought Resolution under the command of Superior Captain Nakandros; the Resolution's fleet was also moving to perform a slingshot maneuver around the planet on the opposite direction in order to "crash" with the escape route of the human ships and attack then by the front while Admiral Justinius fleet and Captain Sekeniun's flotilla attack them by the portside and rear, respectively.

-.

**SSV Lhotse - CIC**

"Turian ships in range sir" the tactical officer of the Lhotse CIC informed.

"Cruisers" Rear Admiral Su Kwon ordered through the comms. "Turn your axis and open fire, focus on the dreadnoughts" he ordered.

At his orders his flagship and the heavy cruisers engaged their ventral thrusters and turn their bodies to face the turian ships with their mounted main guns. With the inertia from the slingshot maneuver they had enough acceleration to turn their ships around without losing impulse.

Admiral Elizabeth Comstock referred to this particular tactic as 'firing while on the river' as the gravitational force of a planet or star is like a river that carries a ship without the need of thruster impulse; the rest of the fleet shut down their thrusters and lowered speed as to maintain formation with the ships that have turned around.

"FIRE!" the admiral shouted.

In an magnificent display of light and energy mass accelerator rounds, coil gun salvos and even Tiamat blue beams of molten metal and uranium, crossed the vast distance that separated the two fleets; most of them hitting kinetic barriers or hull plating while the rest missed their targets and continued their paths lost to the expanse in silence.

The Lhotse's 150 kiloton round was the first and the most deadly to made impact, as one turian cruiser was blown up out of existence, it was not the only one as other mass accelerator rounds and tiamat beams hit the turian vessels. Another line of cruisers was shattered then another and another, until the turian formation was filled by eezo cores explosions, kinetic barriers collapsing and broken hulls losing atmosphere and crewmen to the void.

-.

**HWS Unification - Bridge**

Admiral Justinius flexed his mandibles in rage at the loss of so many vessels, but he smiled when the tactical officer informed them that they have reached firing range.

"OPEN FIRE" he ordered. "Send these humans to the void!" he shouted.

The four turian dreadnoughts began their salvos with the rest of the cruiser and frigates joining them.

Humans did the same with their destroyers and frigates joining the exchange of artillery. Even though most of the turian rounds missed their targets and made impact on the dense atmosphere of the gas giant, the salvo from the dreadnoughts and several of the cruisers reached their intended targets.

One heavy cruiser was hit by the unification's main gun and was blown to bits after her barriers collapsed; other impacts follow suit as the human formation saw the loss of two more heavy cruisers and five destroyers while many other ships carried several grades of damage or weaken barriers.

Of course their casualties were minimal while in comparison to the already destroyed turian vessels but the turian fleet superior in number was in a better condition to absorb casualties than Admiral Su Kwon's fleet; while every destroyed human cruiser size ship decreased the fleet's ability to return fire.

As human capital ships had a superior weapon's range, Admiral Justinius ordered his fleet to close distance and for his frigate squadrons to advance and perform bombardment rounds on the enemy fleet.

Closing distance was risky as the human energy weapons loss their power with range because of heat and radiation dispersion, and were much more effective at close range, but a duel of long range only guarantied tremendous casualties and minimal damage on the enemy fleet until both squadrons converged to overwhelm them.

"Assume fire wall formation" he ordered telling every turian ship to stand next to each other in order to prevent any ship from blocking another's firing solution. "Frigates, move forward target the dreadnought" he ordered.

-.

**SSV Lhotse - CIC**

Admiral Su Kwon watched the holographic display with a mix of equal parts apprehension and delight. His instincts had been correct; the turian admiral was trying to saturate his formation with their superior numbers and firepower in order to counter their longer weapon's range and rate of fire, while also deploying their smaller warships to overwhelm them on close range.

"Admiral the Nyos and the Blue Lake are requesting permission to retreat behind the formation" both ships were in critical state with several impacts on their hulls and their kinetic barriers barely holding.

"Granted order the Tokyo, Warsaw and Seoul to cover them" he ordered to the group of destroyers to cover the reposition of the two heavy cruisers.

Looking back at the display he watched as the turian frigates converged in delta formations and accelerated heading for his fleet.

"Deploy our fighters, ready Marg Sabl maneuver" he ordered on the holographic comms his second in command Commodore Lillian Meltzer looked at him on the eyes ready to perform the tactic both of them have discussed beforehand.

The four escort carriers of the fleet opened their bays and deployed their entire compliments of strike craft: Claymore Fighters and attack bombers; Tiber corvettes and Icarus drone fighters left their carriers like swarms of wasps abandoning the hive at once in angry clouds of sharp stingers.

Even as the last fighters were still taking off from the hangars, the four escort carriers flipped their ships exposing their bellies to the enemy side. This tactic known as the marg sabl maneuver was a risky move in which a ship turned on its axis, exposing one side to the enemy but protecting the most vulnerable sub systems from enemy fire; while also diverting all available power on their lower hull barriers and tachyon shielding to 'tank' enemy fire on one side only.

As the four carriers moved to the middle of the tile; the rest of the fleet reconfigured the formation, with most ships breaking off from the exchange of fire or only shooting with their secondary turrets and weapons.

"Corinth, Thebes, prepare to activate the tachyon shields on my mark" he ordered to the two shield cruisers at the moment protected hiding beneath the escort carriers.

With the marg sabl maneuver complete and the strike crafts deployed to engage the turian frigates, Admiral Su Kwon gave the order to cease fire and continue with the slingshot maneuver.

"Mark" he shouted, giving the activation order; and not a moment too soon as the overwhelming turian fire had already cost them 35 vessels.

Two anomalies of negative energy surrounded the fleet for a millisecond before taking shape in two elliptic shape energy force fields, above the fleet.

To the utmost surprise of the turian gunners and the eternal relief of the Alliance sailors the enemy mass accelerator rounds found themselves being blocked by an invisible force field ranging at the dozens of kilometers of diameter.

-.

**HWS Unification - Bridge**

"Admiral…the enemy ships…are…" the tactical officer stuttered.

"What in the spirits…?" Admiral Justinius asked no one in particular.

"I have no idea, it seems like the humans may have somehow stabilized some sort of super kinetic barrier around their fleet" one tech officer informed them, trying to explain how it was that their shots were hitting an invisible barrier around the enemy fleet.

_Fascinating,_ he thought.

"Radiation and energy levels are focused on the mobile support ships" the tech officer added before being silenced by another officer.

"Admiral the enemy fighter squadrons are tearing through our frigates" the tactical informed looking at the display where the human strike crafts were unleashing their disruptor and plasma torpedoes on his frigates.

While turian frigates had powerful gardian defensive arrays which were shooting down incoming missiles or fighters in proximity with efficiency, the sheer volume of missiles and fast attack ships was staggering, while the positions of the frigate's guardian point defense cannons left several blind spots on the port and starboard side which could only be covered in case of defensive formation with nearby friendly ships.

During the debrief in Palaven, he had laughed at these humans military doctrine of building such large vessels only for transporting strike craft and support roles; it was against all he had been taught in stellar naval warfare; battles were determined by range, numbers and firepower, not minuscule attack crafts. But now seeing dozens of his frigates being destroyed by the bombardment rounds of the human vessels, he felt a cold shiver going through his spine at their ruthless efficiency.

"Deploy the fighters and order the frigates to assume defensive anti-fighter claw formations" he ordered.

This battle had lasted less than an hour and he had already loss more than 120 ships while the humans have only lost about 40 warships.

_You are running out of tricks admiral Kwon, the Turian Hierarchy will not be stop by you nor your kind, nor any other. When I am done with you, your species will be lucky if they become a client species of the empire instead of being bombed into the Stone Age like the krogans._

-.

**SSV Lhotse - CIC**

"Admiral we are leaving firing range of the turian warships" the Lhotse's AI informed him.

Thanks to the impulse of their thrusters and their slingshot maneuver they were within seconds of reaching the edge of the gas giant and escape the enemy mass accelerator rounds. The lack of returning fire has earned them several loses even though the Thebes and Corinth tachyon shields were protecting the whole fleet for the moment.

As the turians were still confused by the super kinetic barriers used by the human vessels, Admiral Su Kwon continued to perform the slingshot maneuver with his ships closing formation and closing range with each other to combine their gravitational mass, in order to allow their fastest ships, their frigates to "drag" the rest of the fleet beyond the limitations of their heavier ship's thrusters.

Another salvo of turian fire bounced off the tachyon elliptic shields projected by the Thebes and the Corinth; the tachyon shields were incredibly strong but they only lasted a few minutes of activation depending the amount of stress they were subjected to; after that the tachyon shields needed to be recharged or the Numantia cruisers singularity cores could overload. As such he had ordered his escort carriers to serve as a wall for the Thebes and Corinth, with their barriers and tachyon shielding focused on their lower hulls where their armor was heavier.

He was running out of time but so were the turians, with the inertia created by the slingshot maneuver with the gravity of the gas giant his fleet was moving faster than the enemy's and they were almost out of range of the turian main guns.

Just when the two tachyon shields were seconds from collapsing his fleet managed to put the edge of the gas giant between them and the turian main fleet, the blue circumference of the planet blocking the enemy fleets from each other.

While the fleet was safe his fighters were still engaged in combat with the turian interceptors and several frigates suffering a total of 40% loses. Knowing full well they were about to be overwhelmed he ordered the drone fighters to cover the retreat of the remaining squadrons back to the fleet; to the eternal relief of his pilots who were running out of missiles and barriers.

But the real battle was about to begin: dozens of turian frigates which have survived the fighters onslaught were burning hard and moving into a lower orbit in order to catch up with the human vessels; while the second turian squadron composed of nearly a hundred cruisers with a dreadnought leading was approaching at them from the front.

He was about to "crash" to a cruiser phalanx while the turian frigates were converging to attack him in the back.

As the turian frigate started to open fire on the ships at the back of the formation, Admiral Su Kwon decided it was time to return fire.

In a space battle exposing your thrusters to the enemy fire is worse than exposing your back to an opponent: if the enemy get a clear shot at your thrusters it can left your vessel dead in the water while the ship can no longer maneuver to aim at the enemy with her main gun. So battles in space with mass accelerator weapons are duels of salvos between ships at thousands of kilometers of distance. Only aggressive commanders tend to close distance with the enemy so cruisers and frigates can engage at 'knife fight' range.

Ordering his frigates squadrons to break formation and fight their turian homologs he assumed a phalanx formation with his cruisers and heavy cruisers on the front and his dreadnought crowning the shape.

Activating the Quantum entanglement communicator he contacted General Williams, with the figure of the aging general appearing on the display.

"General status of the evacuation" he requested an update.

"We have completed the evacuation of 80% of the colony's population" he answered. "The remaining colonists are members of colonial militia or critical personal" he made a pause. "I will order the transports to leave the system at once; you need to retreat admiral, I am no naval commander but I know a lost battle when I see one against a superior enemy, you have done your part, my garrison and I will do ours now" he declared with determination.

For a moment the crew of the Lhotse's CIC exchanged looks, their faces were filled with dread and sorrow, they have lost dozens of ships and thousands of comrades; even though the casualties they have inflicted on the enemy had been far worse. They all wanted to fight and made their stand, but knew that their defeat or capture would mean a serious danger to Earth and the Alliance.

Admiral Su Kwon watched the tactical table with his fleet and their remaining fighters about to crash into the turian cruiser battle line. The Zodiac-Fujian relay was on the other side of the system just pass the enemy squadron, it was time for the battle to reach its final stages, James Su Kwon didn't know what the outcome was, but he knew the end was near.

Activating the comms he made a final statement to his crews.

"Time to go home" he simply declared, before giving the order to put their thrusters at maximum and charge their weapons to meet the turian fleet guns blazing.

Focusing their barriers and kinetic barriers on the stern and charging forward the human fleet finally reached firing range of the enemy ships.

Both navies exchanged mass accelerator rounds with the two dreadnoughts making a kill with each of their shots.

The human heavy cruisers standing on the front of the formation opened fire with their main guns shattering turian cruisers with concentrated fire; human destroyers and turian cruisers on the other hand were more or less equal regarding range and firepower and their salvos increased in accuracy and effectiveness as the distances between them becomes shorter.

In an echo of Commodore Meltzer's tactic on the battle of the relay, Admiral Su Kwon ordered his attack bombers to converge on the enemy dreadnought. The fighters having already reloaded their payloads of disruptor torpedoes and plasmas bombs in their carriers, ready to break the turian defensive line while his flagship readied for the kill.

Admiral Su Kwon watched the tactical display with concern; most of his frigates were engaging the turian frigates while the main turian fleet was accelerating to cut them off. If he didn't punch through the formation at once, they were going to surround his fleet and cut his means of escape.

Also while the turian cruiser squadron was being decimated by his dreadnought, heavy cruisers and destroyers' heavy fire; his own fleet was suffering several loses: the destroyers New York, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Sidney, Beijing and Teheran had been destroyed in the last salvo as well as the heavy cruisers Caspian, Tanganyika and Vostok. Several of his vessels at the front of the formation shined in the display with a dull blue, marking them in critical state with serious systems failures and kinetic barriers at the verge of collapse.

"Admiral" his ship's AI OLADOEN informed him of the moment he had been waiting for. "We have reached optimal Tiamat cannon's range"

"TIME TO SHOW THE STRENGHT OF OUR FISTS" he declared with a smile on his face. "FIRE THE TIAMAT CANNONS" he ordered.

The human dreadnought and the heavy cruisers fired their blue beams of mass accelerated molten metal and uranium into the turian warships. In an instant the ocean of red that was the tactical display of enemy cruisers turned into a constellation of blinking and vanishing dots as the enemy ships were vaporized out of existence.

As the fighters' squadrons unloaded their entire payloads on the center of the turian fleet, the bird shape dreadnought _Resolution_ found herself exposed to enemy fire, with his defensive escort destroyed; hit by dozens of torpedoes the turian flagships was barely holding together with her reserves of methane fuel venting from the side like a beast bleeding from a large wound.

Her suffering did not last long; Admiral Su Kwon fired his ship's twin tiamat cannons at the damaged turian dreadnought shattering the vessel in a massive blue flare.

Even with their flagship destroyed the remaining turian cruisers maintained formation and attack pattern, despite their tremendous loses.

But as both fleet finally closed the distance, charging on each other with the point defense weapons and torpedoes turning the duel of long range salvos into a "knife fight" engagement, the battle became much more fierce; with the turian ships unleashing their disruptor torpedoes mere meters from the enemy vessels in order to overwhelm the human guardian array while the Alliance vessels made use of the ultraviolet frequency ion-laser point defense cannons to carve through the turian ships.

"Admiral the turian main fleet has performed a short range FTL jump at vector 290° from our position" his tactical officer informed him.

_You are tenacious Admiral Justinius I will give you that. You are trying to cut my route, not bad_. _If the turian ships complete their turns and aim my ships with your main guns they will shattered most of my vessels._

"All ships prepare diamond formation and get ready for in system FTL" he gave the general order before turning to his ship's AI.

"As close as possible from the Zodiac-Fujian relay" he instructed.

Perhaps figuring out the human intentions or maybe invigorated by the arrival of reinforcements one lone heavily damaged turian cruiser surprising both turian and humans made a kamikaze round on one of his escort carriers, ramming its hull into the much larger bulky human vessels.

The turian cruiser crushed her hull like a car hitting a wall upon making impact with the carrier's barrier and hull plating, as the ship shattered in pieces it blew up, but the damage done to the escort carrier was tremendous.

"Admiral the SSV Mahatma Gandhi drive core thrusters are heavily damage, they won't be able to engage FTL nor open a rift opening.

Contacting the CO of the Mahatma Gandhi, the figure head of Commodore Pooja Kumar appeared on the holo display. Merely nanoseconds passed as the two commanders looked at each other's eyes and immediately understood each other thoughts; both officers knew what they had to do, most of Admiral Justinius ships have completed their turns, they needed to escape.

"Admiral Su Kwon we are dead in the water, our rift portals are offline so are our thrusters; GO, we will cover your escape" he made a pause. "Good luck admiral and live to fight another day" he declared with a sad smile.

"Thank you Commodore, it has been an honor" he said as he nodded,

"The honor has been mine, sir, goodbye" he answered, a second later the hologram vanished.

"Prepare the FTL jump" he ordered with regret.

Some of the CIC crew looked conflicted. "But sir? The Gandhi…" one officer stuttered.

"They will cover our escape, we need to leave now" he ordered with conviction leaving no room for hesitation.

"FTL ready sir" the AI informed him, as the frigates, fighters, destroyers and heavy cruisers converged on the Lhotse and powered their drive cores.

"Mark" he said, as the entire fleet jump out of the turian gunner's crosshairs.

-.

Wounded and dead in the water the SSV Mahatma Gandhi continued to fight the turian ships surrounding her with her point defense ion-laser cannons. Her captain knew that the capture of that ship meant the capture of the rift gate siphon technology, sending a short farewell to his crew he engaged the self-destruct protocol, overloading both her mass effect and singularity core.

On his wrecked CIC, Commodore Kumar watched as the Lhotse and her accompanying fleet moved to the relay and jumped into long range FTL, leaving the system at last.

Just as the last of the Gandhi's cannons fell silent under the bombardment round of turian frigates the one kilometer long vessel blew up in nuclear blast filled with dark matter and anti-matter energy taking out or damaging dozens of turian vessels in proximity.

-.

**HWS Unification - Bridge**

On his bridge Superior Admiral Justinius' talons gripped the railing of his command platform so hard that they left deep scratches on the metal. The human fleet has escaped; the spirits damned cowards have escaped, even leaving one of their ships behind to cover their escape.

He looked at his battered fleet, and checked with his ship onboard VI: He has destroyed at least 80 human ships including the last mobile fighter base, at least a third of their forces; while he had loss more than two hundred and fifty ships, technically he had achieved victory, he had taken the system from the human invaders, but for every destroyed human ship he had lost three of his own, including the HWS Resolution and Captain Nakandros.

As he watched the growing list of casualties, provided by his ship's VI he knew what that he has failed himself, he had underestimated these aliens and his people had paid a heavy price for it.

Several of his warships containing different levels of damage and were requesting aid, as soon as they were able to reconvene the fleet; they will carry on with the mission. Looking at the holographic display of the relay 314 which the human navy had escaped, he felt a lingering uncomfortable feeling on his gut.

_This is only the beginning_

_Now the real war begins_

-.

**CODEX:**

**-Rear Admiral James Su Kwon Dossier: **One of the most promising commanders of the Alliance's navy, James Su Kwon is the youngest son of former commanders Luna Da Silva and Missuro Su Kwon two crewmembers of the legendary vessel SSV Michigan that participated in the first contact with the quarians in 2108.

Determined to follow in his parent's footsteps, he enlisted in the Alliance military academy on Earth at the age of eighteen. A stellar student, he excelled in every class and was popular amongst his fellow cadets. A hard worker who did not believe in giving up, he was accepted into command school and he proved to be in possession of brilliant tactical mind. Many of his fellow cadets claimed many his unorthodox tactics which allowed him to overcome even the highest level of difficulty at campaigns and engagement simulations were derived from a fascination of vintage sci fi novels and vids.

After performing admirably as an officer under Admiral Comstock, and under her advisement, Su Kwon was promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of the SSV Lhotse along with the position of second in command of the Alliance's Eleventh Fleet.

**-Aconcagua Class Dreadnought:** Designed by Mc Donagh Star Engineering, the Aconcagua class is the modern first line dreadnought of the Terran Alliance's fleet. The warship stands 1350 meters long with an axial gun of 150 kilotons of power. Protected by a tachyon shielding, kinetic barriers, cyclonic barriers and several layers of Reader ship armor, she stands as one of the most durable vessels of the galaxy. Making use of a mass effect FTL core to travel between systems and mass relays, with most of her subsystems and weapons powered by a singularity core, this dreadnought's weapons are some of the largest on the Alliance's fleet; making use of a single high power Negative Ion cannon, two Tiamat cannons and several batteries of coil guns.

Capable of traversing through mass relays unlike other Alliance's capital ships, it is generally use as the flagship of rear admirals and join flotillas battle groups.

Alliance's dreadnoughts are named after Earth Mountains.

**-Numantia Class Shield Cruiser:** Perhaps the most unique vessel on the human fleet, the Numantia is a unique technological marvel. The ship is in simple terms a mobile tachyon shield projector, standing 650 meters long the Numantia has the weight of a cruiser with only minimal crew and without any weapons, relying completely on its shield and escort to defend herself.

The tachyon shield projected is capable of encompassing a full flotilla or a reduce fleet; while a formation of Numantia shield cruisers can protect an entire battle group. While the shield can only be maintained for a few minutes depending on the scale and amount of damage received; if used correctly it can be used to cross an asteroid field without damage or maintained fleet formation against enemy fire or an incoming solar flare.

**-Singularity Core – Rift Drive:** The main power core of the Terran Alliance capital ships and rift gates is the singularity Neutron-Antimatter power core. This energy generator was first developed by Nicola Tesla and the Lutece siblings' centuries ago, and then perfected by Gilbert Alexander and Yi Suchong on Rapture decades later. The Singularity core combines the creation of antimatter in a small scale hadron collider with the synthesizing of the ultra-dense particles known as hyper neutrons (or strange matter as they are similar to the particles located on the inner core of a neutron star, the second densest object in the universe after black holes; where the gravitational forces are so extreme that even atoms and quarks began to compress).

The interaction between the antimatter particles and hyper neutrons generates an energy output comparable to a microscopic supernova. Absorbing energy through thaerium crystals (a new element synthetized by the effects of enormous amounts of plasmid electroshocks) the energy made by the Singularity core is distributed through the ship by the use of ADAM-neural connections in order to power weapons, systems or rift gate siphons.

**-Crius super freighter:** A large one and a half kilometers long vessel, the Crius is an enormous cargo vessel that does not carry a mass effect eezo core; instead she relies on a singularity core to provide herself with power. Incapable of traversing through the mass relays, the crius is equipped with a Lutece rift siphon drive in order to summon openings to the rift gates at her disposal. This ship is usually use in massive operations for strip-mining planets or asteroids and to carry millions of metric tons of extracted minerals from system to system.

-.

**Terran Alliance Military Branches: **The Alliance military has been the spearhead of humanity's interstellar colonization effort almost since its foundation and as such it remains as the largest and most respected organization within human space.

**HIGHCOM:** Alliance High Command is the highest operational command of the Terran System Alliance, and is ultimately in charge of all personnel, equipment, and facilities used by the military. It is based on the Erebus Nexus.

**FLEETCOM:** Fleet Command is the section of operational command in charge of naval personnel, structure, hardware and organization of the Terran Alliance military, as the fleet stands as the primary branch of service and the first line of defense of human territory it is supported by several component services and organizations.

Supporting the Fleets is the Auxiliary Force. It contains hundreds of non-combat ships that perform extremely specialized roles to support fleet logistics. This includes. Transport vessels for materials, auxiliary tugs as well as recovery, science, exploration and hospital ships. Although each starship in the Terran fleet, especially the carriers, can hold a number of troops, and supplies on their own, without the Auxiliary Force, the Navy could -to put it bluntly- be crippled almost beyond repair, in any sustained interplanetary conflict.

It is based on Hades Prime on the Tartarus System, the primary fleet dock and shipyards on Alliance space.

**-SPECWARCOM:** Special Warfare Command is the operational command in charge of all Terran Alliance Special Forces. It organizes special operations and units, and maintains detailed links with other operational commands even though is under the oversight of FLEETCOM. It holds command of several units of Special Forces like the N7 teams and the combat specialized Praetorian divisions. It has no home "base," as it remains secretive and roving.

**-Alliance Starfighters Corps:** The natural evolution of an air force command, the starfighters corps is in charge of overseeing all space and atmospheric operations that make use of small crafts; be it fighters, drop ships or corvettes. It oversees pilots training, coordination, tactical assessment and high risk operations; it remains subordinate to FLEETCOM.

**-Alliance Marines Corps:** The Marines Corps are the Alliance's main expeditionary force, working in conjunction with the Navy to provide an always ready orbital force capable of forming rapid attacks on a terrestrial target, or be the tip of a spear in an invasion in an interplanetary or even interstellar conflict. They operate directly with the Navy, with the vast majority of its infantry troops permanently assigned to a starship, from the smallest platoon in a frigate, to large number of divisions serving on Fleet-Carriers. Like every other infantry unit, Marines make extensive use of Bio-tech Force Enhancement: minor augmentations, implants, plasmids and gene therapy to increase the effectiveness of each and every individual Marine to their full potential.

**LANDCOM:** Land Force Command is the section of operational command in charge of the Alliance Army, and deals with all things planet-side, especially on military colonies and outposts. It is based on Earth.

**-Colonial Guard:** Main garrison for colonies and outposts generally trained to make use of tachyon shields and fixed defenses to protect settlements at every planet of the Terran Alliance.

**-Colonial Militia:** Auxiliary service for the defense of colonies and outposts; it also encompasses the large number of divisions and militias for colonial internal security: Police, firefighters, emergency services, National Guard, SWAT units, etc.

**-Regular Army:** The Army is, by far, the largest branch of the Alliance military. Consisting of tens of millions of infantry, and far more in support, the Army is responsible for massive ground combat operations planet side. In its near inexhaustible number of regiments includes, Infantry, Armored units, Calvary, Airborne, Air Assault, Artillery, and even hazardous environments.

**LOGCOM:** Alliance Logistics Command is in charge of logistics, trade protection, and the movement of troops from theatre to theatre. It organizes military units, and prepares Quick Response Forces. While an overarching structure, it is technically under HIGHCOM, FLEETCOM and LANDCOM while they also coordinate with several corporations and political institutions to provide all supplies and hardware necessary for the efficient operation of all military branches. It is based on the Erebus Nexus.

**AEC:** The Alliance Engineering Corps cuts roads through mountains and builds bases on asteroids. They are the core of all R&D operations through human space, from researching ancient prothean devices, developing new technologies and constructing the bases and ships that push human endeavors forward.

**ASB:** The Alliance Security Bureau is the most secretive, feared and sometimes hated organization within the Alliance. They are the primary intelligence and counter operation service within Terran space. Holding command of thousands of agents and some of the most experimental and state of the art human technologies they are in a constant state of vigilance and preparation for any attack on human interests. The ASB is sometimes feared and despised by Alliance officer as they hold control of the Internal Affairs division of the Alliance military forces.

It is said that if a new technology or discovery is made in Alliance space within a week the ASB will have invented ten possible uses for it and at least three possible countermeasures. By the use of highly advance AIs and synth operatives the ASB continuously study simulations and combat scenarios to counter any attack before it even begins.

-.

**ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:**

**AmanoRyo: **I am trying to do this as verisimilar and realistic as possible, I am trying to avoid the mistakes in other fanfics where the humans are made far to overpowered or the Council is made far too arrogant and ignorant.

**CReaper210: **I hope my writing is showing improvement

**ThePhenakism: **Good to see, you are enjoying it

**Okami Princess: **I always thought the Rachni were fascinating and deserved more development. I have little time to read such a long fanfic unfortunately.

The Terran Alliance power lies in its diversity and advances, so that is why I am trying to develop these sub factions.

The plans regarding the Krogan shall be explored in future chapters.

**DahakStaz: **Good to see you, my dearest fan.

The first two, I have already thought about them and we will explore the droids and the ADAM enhanced rachni in the future.

THANKS for the idea of the energy shield projector ship, I have not thought of them since I played Homeworld 2.

**DAWNWRIGHTER: **Rapture or Columbia are interest AUs that required a little less narrow views, in this world my Rapture is not an Utopia is just an advance nation with little crime and poverty thanks to technology, careful planning and something more that will be revealed in future chapters.

**MeraHunt: **Hope you enjoy this chapter

**Ronin Kenshin: **Thanks

**OMAC001: **We shall see, just be patient please

**Papon777: **Hope this chapterwas of your liking

**Pteaset: **Thanks

**Shadow: **Very good, hope you liked this chapter

**Guest:** I read Atlas Shrugged of Ayn Rand and studied the concept of Objectivism; while I do not share most of Rand's beliefs, in the actual world where a clown like D. Trump can become president and an idiot declaring that Earth is flat or that vaccines are deadly is given more microphone than a scientist or an actual researcher makes me think that humanity is doomed unless we embrace reason and the belief of becoming better than ourselves through work and effort.

**EvilTheLast: **The politicians in reality or fiction always leave much to be desire; I will focus on the Alliance government in further chapters.

**yoshikaandlucy99999998: **The answer is now

**XXXXX**

**This Chapter was very hard to write I had to make a lot of research in order to develop the space warfare tactics displayed here, hope you like the story so far.**


	8. Chapter 7: Past Present and Future

**Chapter 7: Past, Present and Future**

_Binc itur ad astra _

"From here the way leads to the stars"

-.

**Hello, it took a while for me to return to work in my writing as I have limited time between work, friends and relationships. This fanfic is hopefully my final piece of training and experimentation of world and character building before finishing my own completely original sci-fi novel and I am going to do my best to finish it and make it worth your time, despite some of your more hateful critics.**

**GUEST: If you want to show me how to write a good sci-fi fanfic then give me the link to yours, if you have one…**

**I made some modifications in the overall story as some of you are too impatient to know the truth behind all these changes created by the intertwined of the Bioshock and Mass Effect universes; so this chapter will delved into the birth and growth of my version of Rapture and her people in this brave new world.**

**All Bioshock fans prepare themselves to see some of the cannon characters of Bioshock 1; 2 and Infinite.**

**As I don't want this chapter to feel like a filler chapter; I am going to try to unveil the next chapters as soon as possible in order to maintain continuity.**

**The next chapter is the ground defense of Shanxi, with various modifications from my previous crossover, don't worry it won't be long before the Citadel-Alliance negotiations and true diplomatic and cultural confrontations you are all eager to see.**

-.

**1913 DATE UNKNOWN**

**Antarctica, Tesla's Gulch**

The pristine white desert that was the Antarctica has always captured the interest of human imagination; it was the fifth size continent on Earth, a desert of solid ice two kilometers thick above sea level representing perhaps the most hostile and sterile environment on the planet.

It had been declared for decades that it would be the only region of the world forever safe of the predatory hands of mankind. So large and so implacable was the snow covered wasteland that rumors and myths existed in equal proportion to hard theories and scientific observations.

There was no denying that there was truly something ominous about the white continent after all just a few months ago a British expedition led by the famous artic explorer Robert Falcon Scott has been declared lost, their frozen corpses found months later, as a morbid testament of just how unforgivable the frozen land truly was.

A few decades later the legendary author H. P. Lovecraft will publish perhaps his best novel: The Mountains of Madness. A terrifying story about an expedition to Antarctica uncovering a secret alien civilization kept hidden from the world behind a line of mountains even larger than the Himalayas.

That single tale cemented the term lovecraftian as any form of literature exploring perhaps the deepest type of terror, the fear for the unknown and the feeling of helplessness that an individual can experienced upon the discovery of dark, ancient and incomprehensible powerful forces staring at them with primal hunger.

Yet in the end its aura of mystery, hostile environment and its monochromatic nature made it the ideal location for the construction of a private research complex destined to become the foundation of what decades later would become the most advanced city of the planet Earth.

A small lodge of scientists and industrialists led by Dr. Robert Lutece and Professor Nikola Tesla, funded by a businessman industrialist named Jeremiah Fink found a secret channel beneath the ice from where to navigate their privately own submarines to reach a cleft on the continental ice created by the eruption of a volcano that provided an stable terrain and a supply of energy and heat for the complex.

The Atlantis Project as it was called had been originally conceived as a secret outpost where scientists and engineers could develop their inventions in secret and store them without the risk that they could be used in war by the power hungry nations of the world. Many of the members of the project shared the pessimistic belief that humanity was destined to destroy itself if fanatic and nationalistic sentiments took over and through ruthless means corrupted their inventions in the service of their short sighted visions.

The facility also served as an Ark capable of storing seeds from all over the world and genetic material from millions of animals waiting for the day when genetic replication technology could be discovered.

The Helios complex was an enormous metal and concrete fortress similar to an ice covered bunker that had achieved nearly complete self-sustainability in recent months. An enormous submarine converted into a factory, living complex and laboratory that extracted its energy and heat from the volcano, while plants with nutritive value were cultivated in specially designed hydroponic gardens.

-.

In a makeshift conference room the leaders of the Helios Complex were holding council, the situation in Europe was going critical, war seemed inevitable.

Eight people were sat on the table where a map of the Old Continent had been placed: Nikola Tesla (project leader); Jeremiah Fink (investor); Robert Lutece and Rosalyn Lutece (the genius siblings, directors of research and operation respectably); Chen-Lin (a machinist and chief of maintenance); Dr. Harrison Powel (chief medical officer); Scofield Sandsmark (chief of Intelligence) and Booker Dewitt (chief of security).

"So Constable Dewitt what do you think?" asked Doctor Robert Lutece.

"There is going to be a war, soon enough, we must consider taking most of our outside assets discretely out of Europe" the chief of security suggested.

"What about the rest of our promising recruits?" Fink asked. "Dr. Albert Einstein and Madame Curie; for example?" he asked.

"For the moment is better is the rest of the candidates are kept on observation, but if a real danger comes close to them we should consider extracting them as soon as possible" Professor Tesla answered, clearly stating that his word would be final.

"What happens outside our walls is unimportant we need to focus on improving our infrastructure, if a massive war engulfs Europe it could became increasingly difficult to coordinate our supply lines" Chen-Lin declared to the nod of several members.

"I agree" chief of intelligence Sandsmark declared. "My contacts and I are working on improving our outer security and intelligence network. Only God knows how long we may be able to keep this place secret from the world" he stated.

"Hopefully for as long as it takes" Professor Tesla stated. "The incredible technologies we are working on are like the Fire that Prometheus took from the gods and gifted to mankind; but if we gave fire to an arrogant and ignorant people not ready to understand it, they will burn the whole forest with it" he declared with regret.

Everyone nodded.

"Professor Tesla, sir?" a young man came through the door lowering his head in respect. "Sorry to interrupt you, but it is time for the annual council picture."

"Ahhh yes, thank you Mr. Cunningham" he answered. "We will be there in a few minutes."

As everyone in the table rose from their seats, they adjusted their ties, jackets and every detail on their clothes. After a few minutes they gathered up in the central atrium of the Helios complex in a clear formation with Professor Nikola Tesla on the center.

The photographer a young mister named Rupert Cunningham, asked them to straight up and be ready as he adjusted his camera. A flash of light and the image was recorded for history.

-.

After finishing the ceremony and meeting, Professor Tesla left the hall and headed to the main laboratory. One of the largest rooms in the entire Helios Complex it was also the most restricted area, having its own power source and three coded security locks. Only four people had access to the main laboratory, Professor Tesla, his assistant and the Lutece twins.

Imputing his personal codes on the door's security board, he entered the room contemplating the huge black sphere covered by a hexagon patterned scale metallic skin; it looked like an object for another world, in truth it was an object from another time. Robert and Rosalin Lutece called it the omni fabricator, an autonomous self-sufficient machine capable of recycling materials and fabricating new components.

At the other side of the laboratory was a young woman about twenty years old, examining the last strings of code data that the device was writing on the printer machine.

Approaching to his lab assistant he paused for a second as he stared at the writings and lines of codes that resembled a mad man writing on the walls of his padded cell.

"Good afternoon Professor Tesla" she began. "How was the meeting?" she asked with a gentle smile.

"Things are getting complicated in Europe, Miss Dewitt" he answered returning the smile. "A storm is coming" he said in a sad voice.

She released a heavy sight, before looking at him with sadness. "Do you think that this is ever going to stop?" she asked with irony. "This constant strife after strife we humans unleash upon ourselves, without end" she declared.

"May be some day Anna" he declared putting his hand on her shoulder and looking at the fabricator with renewed fascination. "One day in the future; a future that most likely neither of us will ever see" he said, releasing a heavy sight.

-.

**1947.11.02**

**Antarctica, Helios Complex**

At his new office on the Tesla Tower a massive building that its architects had described it as an arcology Andrew Ryan studied the blueprints for the Rapture project searching for improvements while admiring the beauty and precision of the lines from the buildings depicted in them.

"So what do you think, Mr. Ryan?" an old woman on her fifties yet still retaining some level of beauty in her face and manners approached at him from the side.

"I can barely believe it Miss Dewitt" he answered. "I remember a decade ago, when Professor Tesla invited me to see his most advanced laboratory. Even my wildest expectations were surpassed when I saw what he was working on" he declared with a sad smile on his face. "He was a man of genius, a lion among cockroaches" he sentenced.

"May he rest in peace" she declared with solemnity. "He deserved better than to die in poverty in a country which never truly accepted him" she added with clear sorrow and contempt in her voice.

He made a pause as he looked back at a picture on his desk of himself alongside Nikola Tesla and a few other scientists like Dr. Brigit Tenembaum and Dr. Gilbert Alexander.

"I agree but we need to focus on the future not the past" he made a pause looking through the thick glass window that provided a complete view of the ice gulch that contained the growing city. The Antarctic sun provided a nice light contrast with the white ice to glimpse upon the steel skeletons of the unfinished skyscrapers.

"Believe me Mister Ryan the future is all I think about" she answered. "When we started this project with Professor Tesla we imagined this complex as a sanctuary for the best minds of humanity from where they could work without fear of government persecution and the missuses of their discoveries in the service of war and destruction" she made a pause.

"Now the world is at the brink of annihilation while humanity is disgusted by their own actions; what the Nazis did in Europe would forever remain in the collective minds of several generations" she declared looking at the picture of the Atlantis project leaders at 1913, with her eyes displaying clear sadness while resting at the figure of Booker Dewitt, her father.

"And so shall be the ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a morbid testament of the terrifying power of science and man's ability to destroy one another" Andrew Ryan countered adopting a deadly serious expression. "So much destruction and so much death always in the name of 'a greater collective good', a line repeated time and time again by men who built nothing and work for nothing only take for those who do; parasites" he said the last word with disdain before continuing.

"Men and women work and study to improve their own lives and live them with pride alongside their love ones only for the great majority of fools to take power and convince them to embrace the worse of themselves in detriment of the best" he added before making a pause.

"Men like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin will always make use of the people's ignorance and desperation to take over power, sacrificing the individual will in the name of a 'holy collective', while in truth they only served themselves and those around them; we cannot change that but we may be able to set the conditions in this place to prevent further corruption and bring forth a golden age for all of mankind" he added.

Andrew Ryan paused for second contemplating the city that will be his new home, the first time he glimpsed at the Kronos Ark database he for the first time on his adult life felt truly lost; his once unbreakable confidence on his anti-collective philosophy forever shattered yet also changed. More importantly the certainty that they were not alone in the universe with the full immensity of the galaxy staring back at him made him feel small and insignificant, something that he had not felt since he was a child living near Minsk within his middle class Russian family.

"A golden age…" he whispered in low voice, as he turned his eyes towards a scale model of the Daedalus Tower resting near the wall; when it was finished they had renamed it Tesla Tower in honor of the man who had lead the original Atlantis Project.

The Tesla Tower was the first true building in the growing city, Tesla Tower was a self-sustainable structure designed to make use of wind turbines to power the building and an impressive external skin composed of reinforced metals with several layers of isolation materials to maintain heat and atmospheric pressure inside the building.

The construction of the new city was going well; his company was transporting the raw materials while the fabricator forge in the main complex was turning them into the components necessary for the city project.

Surrounding the Tesla Tower was now a growing forest of industrially constructed skyscrapers. Their art-deco style designs gave the new city an air of almost other worldly elegance, while their sharp and sturdy angles exclaimed endurance and precision.

"I still cannot believe that your father and his colleagues would choose to build a city in the middle of the Antarctic Continent" he added looking at his companion.

"Their intention was to build a research complex not an entire city; Andrew" Anna Dewitt answered, referring at him by his first name for once. "Besides, where else could they build a place for themselves where they could be safe from outsiders, while it could also be self-sustainable and rich on resources for further expansions?" she asked making a pause and putting on a smile. "A lost island, a secluded valley surrounded by mountains…The bottom of the sea?" she added giving a short laugh at the absurdity of the last statement; while Andrew Ryan looked curious as in deep thought.

"The bottom of the ocean doesn't sound too far fetch to me" he added.

"Reaching the bottom of the ocean and building a base there may not be a problem with our technology Andrew" he answered. "But the human body and organism is not prepared to live at that level of atmospheric pressure or complete absence of sun light, while the stress of living beneath the ocean level could be fixed by natural adaptation or artificial modification; think about how much painful and sad could be for our children to live without the sun and the sky" she declared.

Her words left him scratching his head; she made a good point if there was one thing Andrew Ryan respected was the primal principle of self-determination: the freedom of choice. He could choose to live in a shelter beneath the waves of the ocean, renouncing the sun and the blue sky because he had met them; but for his children and their children he could not force that life on them because they would never have the chance to make that choice. Speaking of children, he would have to talk to think about his legacy one of these days.

Returning his sight on the city, he hoped that his work would become everything he had dreamed off; a paradise of freedom and individual achievement that could surpass any trial the world could subject on them

"One day this city will be the capital of a new nation and a new world; it shall be the place for our children to grow and learn so they shall lead mankind into the stars" he sentenced.

Anna Dewitt smiled and opened a compartment on the desk, taking out a bottle of scotch and two crystal glasses. Pouring the golden liquid into one of the glasses and then the other, he handed one to Andrew who took it with a smile, before moving the glass to his nose in order to sniff the burn oak scent of the scotch.

They both raised their glasses in order to make a toast.

"For the Future Mister Ryan" Anna Dewitt called.

"For Rapture Miss Dewitt" Andrew Ryan answered as they both took a sip of the glasses.

-.

**2155.06.27**

**Secret conference room; Tesla Tower; City of Rapture**

**Earth; Sol System; Local Cluster**

In a room that did not appeared in any blueprint of the Tesla Tower a meeting was being held by some of the most powerful individuals of the Terran System Alliance.

Eight people sat around a circular shape table which was hollow in the center as it contained an holographic projector displaying a single planet surrounded by an alien fleet: Shanxi.

Each person at the table represented a unique perspective and critical sector of the Terran System Alliance's society.

There was no head of the table but the person who led the meeting was a woman on her thirties who wear an Alliance Navy's admiral blue uniform, the youngest fleet CO in the navy's history: Admiral Elizabeth Comstock, who represented the military side of this shadow council and its de facto chairman.

The seven remaining figures were:

-Jack Wynand, representative of the Rapturian Objectivistic Republic: the politician.

-Saïd Chaibi, CEO of the Aitifaq Mining consortium: the industrialist.

-Karl Rainer, Director of the ASB: the spymaster.

-Saskia Dmitrieva, a famous artist: the culture and high society.

-Douglas Fitzroy, a former journalist and social network blogger: the press and public.

-Dr. Ariana Lutece a genius inventor just like her illustrious ancestor: the engineer.

-Dr. Isaac Tenembaum, a brilliant xeno biologist: the scientist.

The Admiral signaled for the start of the meeting.

"You all know why we are here" she declared. "We have reached Phase 2 of the Kronos Ark Plan, the Citadel Council will soon be aware of our existence but while the Turians have our colony of Shanxi under siege, so far all of their attempts to grab substantial Intel about the Alliance have suffered tremendous setbacks at least to our knowledge; which gives us time to prepare an effective counterattack and liberate the colony before they can call reinforcements" she explained, the man at his right spoke then.

"For the moment the Parliament is divided: China is calling to have the colony liberated at once by a Chinese lead Alliance battle group as they want the most of the political reedit for an eventual victory" Jack Wynand, Rapture's representative explained.

"The United States have requested to move the First Fleet to Fujian Alpha as a show of force in order to push the Turians into negotiations; they claim they still have faith in a diplomatic solution, in truth they want China their greatest political rival within the parliament to fail disastrously, looking weak and loss face within the rest of the Alliance" he added.

"And finally the Rapturian Republic, the EU, Russia and India as well as the great majority of the nations and colonies are staying in the sidelines for now as they do not want to declare war on the whole of the Citadel; yet they have agreed to High Com's decision to assemble the fleets in their respective headquarters to move at once" he explained with some level of contempt for his fellow politicians on his voice.

Karl Rainer Director of the ASB took the word to address the next item.

"Protecting the Alliance vital Intel and more importantly our rift gate technology should be our main priority; we cannot allow it to fall in the hands of the turians or worse still in the tentacles of the reapers" he said the last word with deep concern which was apparently shared by everyone at the room as they all exchanged gazes of silent understanding.

"Our stealth recon satellites deployed at Fujian Alpha are keeping us informed of all turian movements in" he added. "Their invasion is suffering considerable setbacks, they did not expect the colony's capital to be in possession of a shield capable of protecting the entire city, and so the ground assault and siege has been turned into a battle of attrition" he finished.

The next person to take the word was Saïd Chaibi, CEO of the Aitifaq Mining Consortium, primary supplier of element zero in human space; one of the wealthiest individuals on the Alliance.

"The news of the first contact with the turians and the attack on Shanxi, have already made impact on the Alliance's economy" he began explaining. "The Prime Minister and chancellor have closed the markets in order to avoid panic in the stock exchange. Several people are already preparing for possible government implemented austerity measures for war operations in the near future" he said.

"High-com is calling for a declaration of Condition SABER-3, in response to a direct threat to humanity and the Alliance" Admiral Comstock explained.

"The question is what we should do?" Douglas Fitzroy a former journalist that worked as a social network's analyst stated, calling for the attention of the rest of the room.

"My overseer network is showing that a considerable percentage of the Terran citizenship is calling for an aggressive military response against the aliens attacking Shanxi and total war against the Turians and the Citadel but because the information revealed to the public is limited to a short explanation of the last engagements and the attack on Shanxi, most of them are still hesitant to call the entire nation to war" he explained.

"That is unless we convince them to" he added.

"Other than that there is also a trending group of accusations against the Changhong Colony Development Company as they are considered the main culprit behind this calamity. After all they were the ones who pushed for the activation of the relay at Fujian-Alpha" he made a pause. "There are also several trending discussions of conspiracy theories behind the beginning of this war, blaming the government, the synths, the xenos, and even the fucking splicers" he joked, releasing an ironic laugh.

"If only they knew" Agent Rainer added. "Atlas and his group of fanatics are responsible for all of this; and in reality so we are" he sentenced in a serious tone.

The Admiral took the word next.

"We did what we had to" she sentenced, looking at the ground avoiding eyesight with the rest of the table. "We cannot wait anymore, if Harbinger makes a move, we may need the rest of the galaxy, fighting alongside us in order to survive" she declared.

"Atlas and his group may still be useful and the Changhong Company is the perfect escape goat; we just need to play our cards right, allowing the truth to come out eventually, only not the whole truth" Representative Jack Wynand added in an unsure tone.

"MOVING TO THE POINT!" Saskia Dimitrieva a famous artist within the Alliance elite who served as the group's member which represented high society, loudly stated.

"What's done is done, we will finish the way history will describe us later, now we need to focus on our besieged colony and how to kick the turians out of it" she demanded, calling the attention of the room.

"You are completely right Saskia" the admiral answered. "By the way, how has been the reaction of the public so far; anything that is worth of our attention?" she asked.

"The ripples caused by the shockwave of the attack on Shanxi are spreading across the whole of all Terran society: there is a lot of fear, a lot of anger, a lot of uncertainty; there is talk about a cancelation of the interplanetary Olympic trials and other minor events" she explained, as the director of the ASB called the attention of the table.

"By the way, my agents are already keeping a close eye on Representative Mateusz Joeng; we can bring him in at any moment and arrest him for tampering of official records and conspiracy to commit high treason" Director Rainer explained, as the holographic display showed the intercepted message between operative Hermes and Atlas.

"As I have just said Atlas and his group could still serve our interests as unsuspected proxies or scape goats" Jack Wynand declared before adopting a serious tone. "But Mateusz Joeng is a loose end, judging from his previous methods in other anti-insurgency covert operations, the elimination of Atlas should be consider a priority; we can offer Joeng protection in exchange for a better narrative to complete this story" he made a pause, flexing his lips into the shadow of a smirk.

"An stupid politician, desperate to increase his own standing, tampered with the galactic charts in order to activate a mass relay linking to unknown space, not knowing that it could cause a war" he explained. "It's practically the truth, only lacking the plotline of Atlas and his group" he looked at the rest of the table.

"But the priority is still Shanxi, right now, we can finish the details about our version of events later" he sentenced.

"I agree" the feminine yet deep voice of Dr. Arianna Lutece exclaimed. "We need to push the turians off our space before they are capable of acquiring any significant insight to our technologies and strategic intelligence" she released a heavy sight. "We cannot allow the same mistakes the crew of the SSV Michigan made decades ago during our first contact with the quarians decades ago. We are now at war with a hostile alien species and we will find ourselves confronting considerable opponents like the Citadel Council in the near future; it's time to step up" she declared.

"For once, you almost sounded like a politician Arianna" Wynand said, as he turned towards the spymaster. "Director Rainer, are we certain the Cole Protocol was successfully executed by all the destroyed ships at the second battle of the Zodiac-Alpha System?" he asked.

"My operatives have reviewed all reports from the engagement of Rear Admiral Su Kwon against the turians; all ships, crewmen and synths performed their duties, all Intel about the Alliance was erased from the computers on the crippled vessels to prevent capture; and every single component of rift technology, tachyon shielding, singularity reactors and Tiamat cannons has been equipped with anti-tampering and ant-recovery subsystems, which were immediately activated by the execution of the Cole Protocol" he answered with confidence yet his expression suddenly faded into a gaze filled with doubts.

"However" he added. "We have confirmation that the turians have been able to capture several dozens of human survivors from the battle at Zodiac-Alpha who evacuated their ships through escape pods, instead of using the internal rift portals to evacuate from ship to ship" he explained.

Everyone exchanged looks of concern after hearing that.

"Then we must rescue them at once, before the turians subjected them to interrogation and they reveal any vital Intel about the Alliance's technology or logistic" Douglas Fitzroy declared. "We have hundreds of turian prisoners from the battle of the relay, we may be able to negotiate a prisoner's exchange" he suggested.

"Honestly; what the hell was Admiral Su Kwon thinking?" Fitzroy asked. "He should have retreated at once after laying gaze on the far larger turian fleet; risking the ships, soldiers and assets of the Alliance was stupid" as he finished speaking, he was received by the angry stares of half of the table.

"Rear Admiral Su Kwon and his fleet performed admirably in battle" Admiral Comstock answered. "They were successful at a great cost on lives in providing time for Shanxi's garrison to complete the evacuation of most of the colony's citizens and they inflicted tremendous damage on the turian fleet and invasion force" she stated.

"No one, denies that Elizabeth" Jack Wynand declared. "But his actions may have provided our new enemy insights on our ships and tactics; they may not underestimate us again" he stated.

"And I agree with Arianna, on our first contact at Kaldir on 2108 the crew of the SSV Michigan was far too open with an alien race they knew nothing about; they revealed far too much about our dominion, technology and society" Jack Wynand made a pause. "I am not surprised several of the Michigan's crewmen were almost court martialed after returning to Earth, for showing the Quarian pilgrims our historical records and rift portal technology" he released a heavy sigh.

"We were fortunate that the Quarians were of their word and kept our existence secret from the rest of the galaxy" Admiral Comstock conceded.

"But those were irregular circumstances, humanity is no longer a young race of space faring explorers; we are an interplanetary dominion and a nation of hundreds of colonies; nor we are alone in this, we have the support of the rachni and our synths. For better or worse now is the moment in which we must introduce ourselves to rest of the space faring powers on our neighborhood" she declared.

Arianna Lutece took the word next, returning to the main topic of the meeting.

"Now about the liberation of Shanxi" she began. "I know this is not the time nor place, but this is the first real conflict in the history of the Terran Alliance and my contacts in The Alliance R&D are already eager to test some of our newest weapons and ships" she made a pause smiling.

"Especially after the impressive performance of the Numantia Class Shield Cruiser at the battle of Zodiac-Alpha" she declared with pride for her fellow scientists and engineers.

"What new weapon do you have in mind Dr. Lutece?" Jack Wynand asked, in response the lady smiled and imputed a set of commands on the terminal, switching the holographic display to the shape of a strange ship that looked like a triangular shape dreadnought lacking any mass accelerator or mounted weapons, and that contained several spherical shape structures over the main body.

"This is the Kamakura Class Drone Carrier, a prototype escort carrier containing no crew but several compliments of drone fighters and bombers; as well as a highly complex array of communications supported by a smart veteran AI" she explained.

"It's a joint project between Lutece laboratories, Hephaestus Heavy Engineering and the Rachni Hive ship building collective" she added.

"Besides the Kamakura itself we have two more prototypes already constructed" she made a pause. "Unlike our escort carriers which are capable of carrying several squadrons of strike crafts, this vessel contains a far larger number of units as there is no space used for crew quarters or auxiliary areas; also the AIs controlling this type of vessels are veterans with experience and updated combat algorithms. We deployed a single one of these vessels and we can unleash a highly coordinated and powerful swarm of drones against an enemy armada capable of overwhelming point defense arrays and adapting to enemy maneuvers in nanoseconds" she declared.

Everyone exchanged looks of equal parts apprehension and fascination.

"Many people in the Alliance's military will not be happy with the use of a drone warship in warfare" Jack Wynand stated. "As some military general I do not remember stated: Where is the honor in commanding an army of machines, without spirit, without will, without loyalty?" the Politician stated.

"Some may say that in war there is nothing more honorable than victory, Representative Wynand" Arianna Lutece answered.

"Whatever the philosophical ramifications of our weapons may be, not tacking this opportunity to test this new ship would be stupid and irresponsible" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock declared. "I will contact High-Com and ask them for the deployment of our three Kamakura Drone Carriers" she stated.

Dr. Arianna Lutece nodded at that, pleased for the chance to test her new toy.

"By the way what happened with the turian prisoners taken during the battle of the Lambda-Zodiac Relay?" Dr. Isaac Tenembaum asked, calling the attention of the rest of the table.

"They are in custody at Arcturus Station" Admiral Comstock answered. "We transferred them from Shanxi to there in order to keep them secure in our hands on the case of any new alien attack on our territory. We must consider moving them to Persephone, on the unlikely yet possible event that the turians may use Fujian-Alpha as a staging ground for a massive offensive on our relay connected territories" she explained.

"Those prisoners are still a valuable bargaining chip, so do not even think about making any medical experiments on them Dr. Tenembaum" the admiral declared. "At least not in the ones who are still breathing" she conceded; the xenobiologist looked pleased at that.

"Speaking of an invasion of our relay connected territories" Saïd Chaibi interrupted. "Why we don't try to disable or move the mass relays on our space?" he asked as many of those present looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I don't mean destroy them, we can order one of our AIs to shut them down or at least try to?" he stuttered. "Or just dismantle them all together" he made a pause.

"Why the hell do we need them anyway?" he declared. "We have the rift gates, we do not need the relays to control and traverse through our space, also imagine the amount of resources we can get by dismantling a single relay which consist of fifteen kilometers of super dense hardened materials and millions of tons of element zero. And most importantly, without the relays on our space, no enemy be it turians, asari, salarians or reapers can threatened us no longer" he declared with confidence.

The Admiral took the word to answer him.

"Mister Chaibi, you know that is not so simple" she began. "Dismantling the relays could erase any immediate threats, but at least with the relays on our space we can predict from where and when an enemy will attack, an enemy moving through our systems using conventional FTL propulsion would be far less predictable. As a man of trade you know the relays are still critical to our transit and commerce and most importantly…" she made a pause.

"Any attempt to tamper with the mass relay network could be detected by the reapers, we are not even sure if our AIs will be able to 'hack' a relay and if they do, what if Harbinger takes a glimpse of this" she made a pause. "We could put all of humanity in danger by practically declaring war on the reapers before being ready" she stated.

"Ahhh the fucking Reapers, a race of highly advance synthetic warships, numbered in the thousands which have existed for billions of years and have repeated an endless cycle of extinction for just as long" Saskia Dimitrieva stated. "How do you think we can stop them?" she asked with distress.

"By uniting the entire galaxy against them" Jack Wynand answered with conviction.

"I am not sure if all races of the galaxy may be willing or even capable of helping us fight the reapers when the time comes" Saskia stated with some hesitation. "Do you think we should reveal the truth to the Citadel Council, instead of the story we made for our people and our allies?"

"Unfortunately No" the admiral answered. "Not yet anyway, if we tell them that the protheans and their empire fucked up just as the quarians did, they may believe us, if we tell them that the end of the universe is coming to all of us sooner or later; they may prove to be far more human that they appear and instantly assume we are wrong, lying or that there is no worry as the doomsday clock may has a snooze button" she joked earning a small laugh from Arianna and smiles from the rest of the room.

"In any case High-Com is already preparing an effective operation to liberate Shanxi and retaliate against the turians and Citadel" she explained.

"Retaliate?" Saskia asked. "You are planning a counter attack on Citadel Space? Are we not risking to completely antagonizing the Turians and Citadel Council by doing that?" she asked.

"Perhaps" the admiral answered. "But we need to make a show of strength one way or another besides liberating Shanxi; in a fight if in someone pushes you into the ground, you do not only need to stand back up but also need to return the blow; if you don't then your opponent will never respect you" she stated.

"For that reason I am preparing an off the books task force destined to leave for Fujian-Alpha within four days in a Zama class stealth frigate to be covertly deployed in Shanxi to locate turian vital assets or VIPs for capture" she explained.

Her words left the entire room in silence for a moment until Dr. Isaac Tenembaum broke it.

"With your permission Admiral I would like to send one of my students alongside your task force in order to serve as a science officer in studying the turians technologies, behaviors and biology" he requested. "Her name is Belen Reggiani, she is the brightest of my lab assistants also she is in possession of moderate combat training and plasmids" he explained.

"I would like to send one of my agents as well" Director Rainer added. "A combat veteran of the insurrection on Praxis, his name is Zaeed Massani" the ASB director explained.

"An operation like this requires subtlety" Representative Wynand said. "I have contacts on the Order of Interpreters I will ask some favors and perhaps get a Valkyrie on board" he explained as a smile shone on his face.

"You mean a Lilim psi operative trained in enhanced combat?" Arianna Lutece asked, already knowing the answer. "Well if you are all throwing names, I also have a person in mind for this task force, a protégée of mine: Mathew Groznik, an expert engineer specialized in enhanced warfare with synthetics and tech plasmids" she suggested.

"Thank you, all of you" the admiral declared. "I will assemble the team as soon as possible"

"Pardon me for asking admiral" Douglas Fitzroy stuttered. "But what about your team, are you certain that they are trustworthy and capable of fulfilling the task at hand without compromising the security of all us and our cause?" he asked.

Everyone looked at him with accusatory eyes before looking back at Admiral Comstock and immediately regretting for it; as the blue eyes woman had a gaze so fierce that it seemed capable of freezing a tiger by fear.

"Don't worry Douglas, I have selected the team myself, most of them are Rapturians or Rapture's colonies citizens and many of them are part of the Hera Project second generation" she made a pause. "They are some of the best operatives at the service of the Rapturian Republic and humanity" she declared.

The man nodded and the rest of the table seemed to be satisfied by that.

"Very good then" Jack Wynand added. "If there is nothing more to discuss then I believe we can call this meeting adjourned" he said.

Everyone kept silence.

"Outstanding, see you all next meeting; remember that to ensure the success of our vision we need to proceed with extreme caution and patience" he declared. "Good luck" he simply added.

As he finished, the rest of the members of the table simply nodded and their holograms vanished with Dr. Arianna Lutece being the first to dissolve in a cloud of photons and Director Rainer being the last, leaving Representative Jack Wynand and Admiral Elizabeth Comstock alone in the room.

"Everything is going according to plan, Anna" Jack said.

"For now it is, and please Jack when we are alone call me Elizabeth. It may not be my real name, but it is who I choose to be now" the admiral responded.

"I understand I am sorry" he said as he looked to the holographic display showing the Milky Way Galaxy with several areas highlighted detailing the different powers and nations. "So many players: The Citadel Council, the Turians, the Terminus System, the Black Fleet, Atlas and his fanatics and the Reapers" he released a heavy sight.

"The only one which we should truly concern with, are the reapers" she declared.

"And what about our little proxy players? Atlas and the Terminus Black Fleet" he countered. "We provided the means for them to exist; we are indirectly responsible for everything they have already done and will do in the near future, all the lives that they have already taken and will destroy…" he declared looking at the ground.

"The galaxy is sleeping" she countered. "We need to wake them up, to look at the universe for what it is not what they thing it is and has been for thousands of years" she declared.

"It's the only way to prepare them and us for the Reaper Invasion" she sentenced.

"So the end justifies the means, Elizabeth?" he countered. "I don't care if you can see all of the doors and what is behind all of the doors; the present matters, not only the future that is still out of reach" he stated.

"I understand Jack, but think about Rapture, about all of the people we have already gave a new life; billions could die in the reaper invasion, we need to be ready in order to save as many lives as possible" she declared.

Jack kept quiet for a moment, looking at the galactic map.

"Yet it feels weird" he stated without removing his eyes from the hologram.

"What? Playing god, setting the board for so many players like the Terminus Black Fleet and Atlas's fanatics?" she asked.

"That and being on this side of the strings; Atlas strings more specifically" he smiled and declared.

She smiled back; both of them shared a history of manipulations by Atlas also known as Frank Fontaine.

"Ha…True" she declared. "What would our parents think about all of this?" she asked, receiving an expression of confusion by him; followed by an ironic smile.

"Which ones? Each of us had two fathers, and neither of us met our mothers" he countered as he looked at the chains tattoos on his wrists.

That was true, each of them had been 'put' on the world by a 'fake father' who had placed a task and destiny on them, without choice or chance to follow any other path that wasn't one that led them to conflict with their 'true father'.

"It doesn't matter" she declared. "At least you didn't have to meet any of my fathers; I have to work with both of yours for decades" she stated, he smiled at that.

"Well, that is true" he sighted as he looked at her with concern. "Anyway, this task force of yours…Let me guess, the one is charge is who I think it is?" he asked.

"Yes" she answered. "And I understand your reservations, but Jack Harper may become one of humanity's greatest defenders…"

"Or one of its greatest criminals" he countered.

"We can prevent him from following a dark path; just trust me Jack" she declared with sincerity.

"I will always trust and believe in you Elizabeth; just do the right thing" he stated with a voice filled with affection.

The Admiral smiled back and her hologram finally vanished in an orange cloud of photons, leaving the politician alone on the room looking at the hologram on the table.

"THINKER meeting is adjourned" he ordered to the first human AI in existence. "Close the room"

"Acknowledged Mister Ryan" the computer voice said. "Have a good day"

He abandoned the room through the main door as the holographic map vanished and the ceiling's lights shut down leaving the room in complete darkness.

-.

**2155.06.28**

**Kashmir Restaurant; Coeus Cardinal Pylon**

**Jotunheim System; Erebus Nexus**

It was a somber day on the Kashmir Restaurant; people were gathered at the place to drink their afternoon's coffee and enjoy a moment of rest from work or study; but the environment was quiet, cups of coffee and fragments of food rested in every table yet few of them were being tasted by the clients as everyone including the staff members were frozen watching the screen wall showing the latest news. More importantly it was displaying the exchange between the leader of Shanxi's garrison and the admiral of the turian invasion force.

In the hands of Dr. Karin Chakwas rested a cup of coffee, a thin breath of steam emanated from it, as her eyes were fixed on the holo-screen.

"_I am General Williams of the Terran Systems Alliance, commanding officer of the colony of Shanxi's garrison. I am giving you one last chance Admiral Justinius to leave this system without further bloodshed; the Alliance wants nothing more than peace with every sentient species, but we will fight as one to defend our nation against any outsider invaders, and you have officially declare war to us"_ the Human General stated in perfect Turian.

Admiral Justinius of the Turian Hierarchy paused for a moment in order to study his new opponent.

"_General Williams, the Hierarchy has ordered me to secure this system in the name of the Citadel Council, the foremost government of the galaxy; in order to make you answer for the violations on Citadel law by your nescient species. If you want to avoid any more bloodshed you will surrender at once"_ the turian declared.

"_Have your troops put down their weapons, and surrender to my forces. Our occupation will be peaceful but we will use force if necessary. Your fleet has retreated General, you have no chance to hold this planet without orbital support and my soldiers are some of the best of the galaxy, they have fight worse things than your kind. What would it be General?"_ the turian sentenced.

The face of General George Williams contorted into a smile

"_Believe me Admiral; you have never faced anything like us. The navy did its job and my forces will do ours; we are soldiers of the Terran Systems Alliance and we will not surrender to your Hierarchy, to your Council or to the fucking Prothean Empire"_ the human general declared drawing a surprised look on the turian's face.

"_Admiral Su Kwon informed me that in the last battle for every human vessel destroyed, you lost three of your own. I have given my soldiers an order: No one is allow to die until they have taken at least five turians each; I promise you Admiral you won't take this world and if you do it will be over a mountain of your people's corpses. I read in your codex that you turians consider themselves as 'the best fighting force in the galaxy'. Come here and try to take my planet, we are all eager to test that claim"_ General Williams stated as the transmission cut off.

The recording of the exchanged faded out and it was replaced by the sight of a brown hair Caucasian woman wearing an incredible stylish outfit, Deborah Desspero the main anchor news lady of the ANN (Alliance News Network).

"After demanding the surrender of the Shanxi's garrison, the turian fleet in orbit of the planet launched a bombardment volley on the capital of Quinhai, without regard for civilian casualties in an attempt to destroy all resistance. The volley was stopped by the city's tachyon shield and the city suffered no damages."

"The presence of the tachyon shield must have surprised the turians who were unfamiliar with this technology, and were not expecting an energy barrier capable of protecting an entire colony city."

"After that the turians deployed ground troops and began an assault on Quinhai, keeping the settlement under siege, as the colonial guard and militia hold a defensive perimeter around the main city causing tremendous casualties on the alien attackers yet sustaining several loses as well."

"Before the release of this video through the waypoint net, several speakers for the Alliance Parliament declared that they intended to solve this disastrous first contact through diplomatic means. Now all them still hold silence as riots and protests have taken hold of the streets across many cities on Earth, Erebus and the colonies demanding an immediate military response to liberate Shanxi, as no one can deny anymore the motives and intentions of the turians, as well as their actions against the terran nations."

"A speaker for the Alliance High Command has released a statement that an operation to recover the Fujian-Alpha system and pushing the turians out of turian space is underway. The Alliance Fifth fleet and elements of the Sixth fleet have gathered near Theta Station at the other side of the Shanxi-Theta relay in order to defend Alliance inner space and preparing a direct strike on the occupied system. A rachni hive fleet has also joined with them in order to provide support for the human navy."

"Now the only question that truly matters is one: When?" she made a pause. "When will the forces of the Alliance shall muster together in order to defend Terran space; to defend Earth and her colonies as they should?"

"Jack Wynand the Parliament representative of the Rapturian Republic; gave a declaration this morning claiming that if there is a time for all terrans to come together as one to defend our civilization against the rest of power hungry nations of the galaxy, then this is that time. Social networks have shown an overwhelming support for that statement as crowds of people have gathered up in front of the Parliament building in the Erebus Nexus demanding action for their government"

"Whatever shall be the course of actions they decide, there is no denying that humanity is at a critical point on its history. For whatever is worth, I am confident in humanity's ability to overcome any challenge, and choose our own path" she declared.

"And despite all our anger and frustration we must have faith in our representatives and in ourselves; we must be patient and understanding despite the emotions boiling across our space. For now all we can do is try to step up, help those in need, wait and pray for our brave soldiers in Shanxi, defending our people" she stated in a soft voice.

"I am Deborah Desspero or the Alliance News Network; good afternoon to all of you" she signed off, as the screen switched to commercials.

-.

As the news anchor signed off, Doctor Karin Chakwas took a sip of her Irish coffee, it was bland, it had lost its warm because of the time she had lost herself looking between the screen and her wrist data-tool.

All around people spoke in anger against the turians.

"Those fucking xeno birds are going to pay" one stated.

"We are going to show them what humans are made off" another stated.

"We should unleash our friends the rachni on them, let's see how they deal with them this time" one female young voice said.

"I hope we get to meet the asari, those blue ladies are gorgeous" a man declared.

"You know they are alien right?" his companion both joked and asked.

She released a small laugh; all of those people speaking big and using great statements but none of them were going to do anything at all in reality. She was.

As a member of the SSV Stephen Hawking (the Alliance Second fleet's flagship) medical staff she was probably going to join them in the assault on Shanxi. It was a shame that humanity's first contact with one of the largest galactic civilizations has ended in war, but it was not mankind's fault.

_I am just hopping that all these decades of peace between mankind, her creations and their allies do not end in years of war with aliens._

She looked around the room as she heard as one man had declared that he intended to go the military base and volunteer for service.

_I love soldiers filled with spirit and enthusiasm, they make the Alliance's military feel alive and good. I just hope that they do not rush blindly into battle; every combat situation generally ends with me patching a lot of brave idiots._

-.

**CODEX:**

**-Rapturian Objectivistic Republic's History:** The ROR origins come back to the beginning of the twentieth century and Project Atlantis, a private endeavor founded by Nikola Tesla and funded by an industrialist named Jeremiah Fink. The Project's objective was to build a secret research complex from where some of the best minds of the world could work in secret without fear of persecution or government interference.

The Helios Complex as it was call also served as a bunker storing seeds from every plant of Earth and tissue samples from many creatures in order to rebuilt Earth's biodiversity in case of an hypothetical extinction event when technology had advanced enough. For decades the complex made incredible progress developing impressive new technologies like stabilizing quantum gateways through the Lutece field, making the first step towards the rift gate technology.

During the thirties and the international economic collapse alongside the rise of the fascism and communism many people were discretely extracted from Europe and America to the Helios complex at their request. New technologies were born there and kept from the rest of the world in order to avoid the use by any corrupt totalitarian nation. Their fears were proven right with the rise of Adolf Hitler to power and the outbreak of the Second World War.

As the war rage on, the leaders of the Helios Complex created a support network to extract and evacuate people at risk, being Jews persecuted by the Nazis, political dissidents or refuges trying to escape from the war; all through the use of proxies and secret agents in order to avoid any risk.

Most of those evacuees ended in other parts of the globe, but thousands of them with connections and skills were taken to the Helios complex; turning the small research complex into a small prosperous city.

The end of World War Two brought a new beginning for the nascent city; thousands of refugees have taken shelter there, humanity's faith of itself was in shambles, buried beneath the ashes of Auschwitz and the ruins of Hiroshima. Many of the world's greatest individuals fled to the Helios Complex amongst them, was a man named Andrew Ryan, a wealthy industrialist with a considerable extreme philosophy.

Establishing friendship with Anna Dewitt the de facto director of the Atlantis Project, Andrew Ryan made reforms on the complex, renaming the nascent city as Rapture and expanding the city both in population and scale.

The city became home to some of the world's most brilliant, hard-working, and creative minds, who contributed to its design and technological advances.

Through the work of people like Brigid Tenenbaum, Yi Suchong, Bill McDonagh, Sander Cohen and Julie Langford; Rapture was engaged in an endless stream of technological and cultural achievements.

The primary goal of Ryan's Rapture was to create a capitalist society free of any religious and government interference of any kind, where any citizen could prosper for his or her own gain, without having to fulfill the wants of others. The "world's best and brightest" would be granted freedom of will and choice in Rapture, unrestrained by government, religion and similar established institutions. Yet through the guidance of Anna Dewitt Rapturian society remain abiding by the some traditions and moral systems once imposed by those institutions, values such as logic and scientific reason were to guide the inhabitants in their pursuit of achievement.

Even though Ryan's main philosophy was against any type of government sponsored social support programs, a network of support institutions existed through Dewitt's oversight allowing some of the lowest tier citizens of Rapture to remained busy and well maintained.

A project of infrastructure and self-sustainable development was meant not only to expand the city and made it self-sufficient but also intended to keep most of the cities inhabitants under steady employment, in order to avoid social conflict between the upper and lower classes of Rapturian citizenships.

Many of the upper tier citizens of Rapture also maintained a sort of 'double life', living and working in Rapture some days but also keeping their lives on the outside world, further maintaining Rapture's secrecy but allowing some gaps within the city's isolation. Several of the world most impressive technological developments had been originally made in Rapture and then filtered into the outside world.

The city's infrastructure was impressive: generating electricity through a geothermal generator powered by an active volcano beneath the ice of the Antarctica and later through the first singularity Neutron-Antimatter generator. A genetically engineered species of algae and seaweeds were the city's primary food source, Rapture's laboratories synthetized food through the algae and several species of sea fauna, both natural and genetically engineered were raised as the city's heavy calorie diet. Recycling factories were built through the city as well, reducing pollution and garbage disposal problems.

Rapturian society reached its zenith on the 1970, as the city reached the number of one million inhabitants holding a 100% literacy rate, very little crime rates and almost no social conflicts with non-existent unemployment rates.

For decades the city maintained its secrecy through its location isolated from everything and later through the use of a projected cloak shield that hided the city from planes and satellites. But some cracks started to appear as some of the world most dangerous intelligence agencies had a file on the disappearances of several of the world greatest minds even though the theory of Rapture was laugh and dismiss in every occasion as too far fetch.

Rapture three most important technological achievements would later become the foundation for modern human society: ADAM gene mod therapy, self-aware AI synthetics and rift gate technologies.

Rapturian macro culture contained an emphasis on self-determination, atheism and the search for self-improvement and achievement through work, study and physical training. The use of in vitro genetic therapy eradicated almost all birth defects and genetically inherited conditions like autism or tuberous sclerosis; yet some limits were imposed through regulations as in vitro conceptions were limited to correcting birth defects but it was prohibited to 'design children' as to not tamper with the basis of human form and nature.

The revelation of the Rapturian Republic at the beginning of the Twenty First century brought new life and activity to the city which slowly turned into the financial center of the world when rapturian corporations expanded all across the planet.

Rapture was one of the founding members of the Terran Alliance and rapturian technologies paved the way for human stellar colonization efforts, but the ROR had tremendous problems in competing with other nations for colonial rights of newly discovered planets in order to expand their society and economy on the interplanetary stage because of its comparatively small population. Planets like Praxis or Chiron were only colonized by Rapture through its partnership with other nations like China or the US.

To clarify; most planets on the Alliance where colonized and developed though joint operations but initial surveys and settlements were spear headed by the largest nations of Earth. Countries which had the economy and population to engage in full scale interstellar colonization: The United States; China; Russia; The European Union; India and later on Indonesia. It was through the Alliance oversight that those settlements were to developed into fully fledged colonies belonging not to a single nation but to the whole of mankind's unified government.

Only through the implementation of the Hera Demographic Development Project on 2085 was the Rapturian Republic able to compete and collaborate with the rest of Alliance's nations.

By the eve of the twentieth second century the ROR had become one of the main powers within the Terran Alliance super nation; a partner with most of its member states and seen by many as the near utopian ideal of what human society could be.

-.

**-Hera Demographic Development Project:** The HDDP was one of the most ambitious and successful projects of colonization and colonial development by any nation on the Alliance. In 2085 the Rapturian Republic was conceded property of seven planets in three solar systems, none of them being garden worlds, yet rich in resources.

Only one of them Hera 04 was considered valuable enough to justify terraformation, unable to divert enough of its population without compromising their society and economy the ROR decided to implement a strangely conceived colonization project.

Just a few dozen colonists were sent with a large contingent of synths workers to build a genetic breeding facility. Holding thousands of fertilized human embryos made through random donation of reproductive cells and engineered to sustain optimal genetic diversity and performance, the facility began 'producing' thousands of babies that were later raised an educated by a few human overseers aided by synths caretakers.

The project was criticized by many of the Alliance nations who claimed that the birth and rearing of human children through unnatural means was near monstrous. But years later the men and women breed and raised through the Hera Project joined with the rest of the human society and proved to be some of the best and hardworking individuals of the Alliance.

On Hera 04 the colonist made a successful colony in the image of Rapturian society and the planet later became one the most important and wealthiest colonies on the Alliance.

The success of the HDDP pushed many of the other Earth nations to start their own demographic development projects, and even though there are some sentiments of discrimination against the artificially breed individuals of the project, with the derogatory nickname 'flask child' used by many against the children of the Hera Project.

-.

**As always I do not own Mass Effect or Bioshock; Mass Effect is property of EA games and Bioware; while Bioshock is property of Ken Levine and Irrational Games.**


	9. Chapter 8: Holding the Line

**Chapter 8: Holding the Line**

_Celer – Silens – Mortalis_

"Swift – Silent – Deadly" (Former motto of the United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance; Current motto of the Alliance's Marine Corps Tactic Covert Reconnaissance units)

**Hello Happy N7 Day! It was last Thursday November 7°, so in order to celebrate that wonderful date for every fan of the Mass Effect Universe I rushed the unveiling of this new chapter, Hope you enjoy it.**

**This chapter will focus on the ground defense of Shanxi with the introduction of several key characters of the cannon timeline.**

-.

**2155.06.30**

**Erebus Nexus,****Jotunheim System**

**Laphetus Pylon Star port**

At one of the many space ports of the colossal floating metropolis that was the Erebus Nexus a peculiar group of approximately two dozen people waited to depart, they were all experts and veterans of different fields gathered together for some sort of 'off the books mission'.

No one spoke to each other; they mostly just exchanged looks of curiosity and suspicion between them or ignored everyone else altogether by focusing on the holo screens at their wrist data tools.

A secondary door opened up with a low hiss allowing two men to enter the room; one was an officer wearing the deep blue with golden trims uniform of the Erebus Guard, while the other looked like a soldier or mercenary in full combat gear, his face was hard and his expression emanated an aura that say: 'I mean business and have no patience for bullshit'.

"Please just wait here Corporal Massani" the deck officer ordered him. "The admiral will arrive in short time" he informed him.

"Thanks mate" the grunt soldier answered as the officer turned back and left him there with the rest of the guests.

At the corner of the waiting room next to a large observation window that allowed an impressive view of the void the man to take command of the operation was fixed on the holo screen at his wrist, while his partner just looked through the window at the stars with clear impatience.

Reading through the classified reports on the siege of Shanxi made Jack Harper's blood boiled with rage and determination. Those goddam dinobird xenos had picked the wrong enemy.

"I cannot believe we are going to Shanxi, right to the frontline of this goddam war" his partner Eva Core exclaimed distracting him from the screen.

"Are you having second thoughts about this mission?" he asked in a voice tone that was not attempting to taunt her but rather show concern.

"Please you know me" she answered while smiling wide. "I was an N7 candidate; I have a tendency to run towards the fire not away from it".

Jack Harper returned the smile, but turned back immediately as he was alerted of the opening hiss of the main door and the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards them.

"ATTENTION" several heavily armed soldiers rushed through the door, every single one of them including the squad leader who shouted the order was encased from head to toe in full heavily armored combat praetorian exo suits.

The squad formed up on the two sides and allowed passage to a blue eyed woman in admiral uniform, everyone knew who she was; all the soldiers saluted in perfect synchrony.

"At ease" she ordered, before looking at the guests. "Gather around please" she ordered, the group did as they were told with Jack Harper, Eva Core and the rest of the group forming a half circle around her, with the soldiers flanking them on both sides.

"Good afternoon everyone" she began. "As you know, today June 30° 2155 is an historic day for the annals of human history, as earlier today the Terran Alliance Parliament has officially declared a state of war with an alien nation" she declared, as everyone exchanged looks of distress and astonishment.

"Please follow me" she ordered as she guided them to a large meeting room, signaling all of those present to take a seat, as she remained standing in front of them, imputing orders in her data tool.

The holo projector was brought to life, and began displaying a detailed representation of the Fujian-Alpha System with a red triangle marking the turian fleet.

"Alliance High-Com has declared Threat Condition SABER 3, and the fleets are mobilizing to their respective rendezvous points, while a plan to liberate Shanxi is being prepared as we speak" she stated to the astonishment of many.

"But even though we are confident in our forces and fleets ability to defeat the turians based on their performance on our previous engagements, we are lacking a key component for this operation: Intel on the enemy's motives and objectives" she explained. "That is where you all come in" as she finished the hologram changed to the shape of one of those skull face aliens known as turians.

"This is Admiral Justinius, commanding officer of the Turian fleet in Shanxi and the single most responsible individual for the death of countless Terran soldiers" she declared.

"We are not sure if the order to invade our territory came from the Citadel Council, but we need to know for sure in order to prepare an effective response after the liberation of Shanxi is completed".

"We have been able to ID two main enemy VIPs on Shanxi's AO" the hologram changed to two turians shapes, one looked almost identical to the last while the other was different, its head was smooth, lacking the sharp spikes present in the other; a female perhaps.

"These are General Arterius and Orinia, two of the main commanders of the turian forces laying siege to Quinhai, capital of Shanxi. Your orders are to gather Intel of everything: objectives, technologies, logistic support, etc" she made a pause.

"And if it's possible, to capture any of these SOBs" she stated, Jack and Eva smiled at that.

"You have all been selected because of your skills and track records, to form an off the book task force that will depart for the Fujian-Alpha System, within two hours, so if any of you want to step down, this is the time" she declared.

Everyone exchanged looks but no one stood up and leave, they all remained on their seats confident.

"Very well" she smiled. "As for your mission you have a particular secondary objective: find everything you can within Turian Intel regarding a particular group operating in the Terminus Systems, known as the black fleet" she stated.

The holographic display began to show a video of alien vessels fighting each other, with turian and asari ships on one side and black plated hull vessels on the other, the battle immediately turned one sided when the black ships fired a powerful red laser that shattered turian and asari cruisers with one shot; most of those present recognized that type of weapon.

"This group or 'rogue nation' as the Citadel Codex refers it to, are in possession of very advance technology" she made a pause. "Including the MHDW Tiamat cannon and probably even stealth technology" she explained as many exchanged looks of picked curiosity.

"Several turian prisoners in our custody have stated that as we have similar weapons and technology we must be in active collaboration with this group" she added.

"Obviously that is not the case" she made a pause. "But going to the point, our analysts in High-Com have the theory that the turians are acting on their own, without the approval of the Citadel Council and their allies" she smiled at that.

"One way or another, after our operation to drive the turians out of Terran space is over, the Parliament is planning to open talks with the Citadel Council, having vital Intel regarding the turian doctrines, operations and most important information regarding the black flee will give us ammo to use against them, both in and out of the negotiation table" she declared.

"Specialist Harper, Valkyrie Dumas, step forward" she ordered, Jack reacted hearing his name.

He and a woman on her twenties with light brown hair and sunglasses stood up and walked towards the admiral.

"Commander Jack Harper, will be in charge of this operation; while Valkyrie Camille Dumas shall be your XO" she explained.

Jack looked at his left at the beautiful French young woman who removed her glasses and showed her golden eyes that revealed her as a Lilim. He made a quick glance at the woman studying her: she was by far one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, her skin was slightly tanned, she was about Eva's height and just as muscular, her stance was rigid yet she looked as someone ready to jump into a fight at a moment notice.

Valkyrie was the moniker used to call the Lilim individuals from the order of interpreters trained in combat; they were an elite fighting force tasked with maintaining peace between humanity and the rachni, more importantly they needed to show humanity's strength to the rachni queens and hives and serve as liaisons for rachni warrior broods.

Allowing a pause the Admiral continued.

"The SSV Cajamarca a Zama Class Stealth frigate will covertly deploy you in Shanxi; once in you arrived at the AO you will be under the command of General George Williams who will act as you Commander in chief; contributing to the defense of Quinhai but your primary objective is the capture of any turian high ranking VIPs and Intel, primarily regarding military intelligence" she stated.

"Now I am going to ask each and every one of you, are you in or out?" she asked to the entire room.

Jack Harper walked a step forward and declared his answer "I am in".

"I will join" the Lilim known as Camille Dumas declared.

"I am in" Eva Core declared as she stood up from her chair.

"I am in" one by one those gathered there declared, standing up from their seats.

"Then welcome all of you, to Task Force Sigma" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock declared a smile on her face.

-.

After a last review of weapons and hardware the so call Task Force Sigma was ready to embark on the Cajamarca and depart for Shanxi.

For Jack Harper in particular this was like fulfilling his self-imposed destiny, the path that he had laid for himself was finally starting to show its end.

He had been born on the colony of Chiron at the city of New Boston. The planet Chiron in the Alpha Centauri System named after a centaur erudite of the Greek mythology who has served as the demigod Hercules's tutor. The planet had been the first human extra solar colony in history as well as the first experiment for massive human interstellar colonization.

Funded by the US and China, the two most powerful nations on Earth, the planet's inhabitants had grown in a new society born out of the combination of western and eastern culture; as both nations pushed their claims on the planet yet refuse to compromise themselves in any armed conflict in or beyond Earth for the control of Chiron.

As a result of the cosmopolitan nature of Chiron cities, there were a lot of racial tensions in each settlement, beyond the obvious problems regarding use of language and metric systems. Most of the Chinese colonists refused in every turn to adopt English as a lingua franca for the colony, while the North-American colonists also refused to adopt the international metric system, discarding the widely outdated use of inches, foot and yards on their local industries and work.

But from all the conflict and uncertainty harvested in Chiron, a new sense of identity and purpose had been born, the third generation of settlers was no longer composed of Chinese or Americans, they were Terrans; the sons and daughters of the planet Earth and adoptive children of the world of Chiron seeking to claim the stars and build a new future for mankind.

All of them spoke English, Chinese, Spanish and Arab with ease or aided by translation devices; their history was different for each generation; their great grandfathers had grown on the overpopulated cities of Earth beneath a great blue sky before leaving for the stars; their grandfathers had lived most of their lives on Chiron, within dome cities and self-sustained arcologies isolated from the outside while the planet Chiron's atmosphere rich in nitrogen and carbon dioxide was being processed and recycled into breathable air filled with oxygen by the terraforming facilities.

Their parents had been the first generation to breathe the air of the planet without the use of gas masks and stand free beneath Chiron's sky fully glimpsing the yellow sun Alpha Centauri A and the orange sun that was Alpha Centauri B.

Some genetic treatments were needed to adapt the population to the newly terraformed environment; as well as the plants and animals they had brought with them. The combination of all those factors and the lessons and beliefs inherited to them from their cradle, the Earth had given birth to a new culture based around the belief of humanity as one people, one nation beneath one sky.

The experiences of the first settlers had also imposed on them a strong value for self-sacrifice and hard work; after all an entire generation of their forefathers had lived in Spartan like conditions in self-sustainable hermetically sealed settlements so as their children could have a new planet to live and prosper.

Jack Harper in particular had been born on an upper middle class family that had made quite an investment in each of their children's careers. Yet he had been a sort of black sheep, his grades, high IQ and activities had allowed him to be accepted by Oxford as well as the Science Academy of Londinium at the colony of Columbia, yet he rejected those offers and chose instead to go to the Alliance Military Academy at New Rapture.

There he met his partner, best friend and lover Eva Core; because of his high IQ and tactical expertise he has been accepted in command school to serve at fleet command or intelligence; while Eva was training for the Alliance Marine Corps.

But one day during training Eva had been forced to participate in a combat test under the command of a green cadet named Karina Fontaine who by all accounts and purposes had bought her way into the academy not earned it.

The green commander has led the group into a slaughter at the combat simulation, only Eva has 'survived' to complete the objective and ensure that the efforts made by the squad were worth it.

Eva blamed Karina's poor leadership on the results of the test and the rest of squad backed her claim, while the snob cadet had attempted to avoid the fault by blaming Eva calling on her lone wolf act and performance as a detriment to the squad.

With rumors of an impending expulsion for Eva circulating the Academy, her fellow cadets chicken out and refused to present statement for each side; all alone and with the odds against her Eva was forced to make a desperate move: breaking and entering the faculty office and steal the test results of Karina Fontaine in order to prove that her filthy rich parents have bought her entry into the academy.

With Jack's help she had been able to bypass security and the electronic locks of the office, making a copy of all cadets and faculty alike; but the Academy's AI detected the intrusion and trace the files copy to Eva's dorm personal computer.

It was then that Jack Harper took the first truly hard choice of his life, he took the fault, declaring himself as the sole thief before releasing his copy of the test results of Karina Fontaine into the waypoint net, detailing serious tampering and proving that the rich brat was not worthy of the academy. Taking the fault had been a choice moved by both emotion and rational thinking: he truly cared for Eva, she has earned her position and she had a bright future as a marine officer perhaps even an N7 commando, if she lose that, she practically forfeited everything her family and her had worked for. But he could abandon all of this and go to Oxford or Londinium, he had a choice.

In the end both he and Karina Fontaine were expelled from the academy, even though local social media proclaimed him a hero for exposing internal corruption within the military academy of New Rapture, with the public scandal even forcing a member of the faculty to present his resignation.

His family, most particularly his father took his expulsion from the academy rather well and he departed to Londinium's academy accompanied by Eva who in the end has renounced from New Rapture's military academy.

He completed his studies on economics and engineering; while Eva entered into Londinium's academy with a private scholarship and became an AI development coder believe it or not.

Upon graduation they met the person who had granted Eva the scholarship, a young commodore named Elizabeth Comstock; colony born like them, Rapturian origin with an ambition almost as impressive as her intelligence and tactical instincts. She has apparently followed both of their careers and had a particular interest on making use of their talents and skills.

She offered them a job, becoming part of an off the books anti-insurgency unit under her command, while also presenting them to a wealthy investor for their own company.

Within a year Harper-Cord Aerospace was born, a newly respectable corporation for the manufacturing and selling of starships and their associated technology; that could also act as a front company to attract the attention of insurgent elements seeking new ways to fund their organization and criminals attempting to perform money laundry.

Using their new found contacts and fortune they were able to track the leader of a secret paramilitary organization that called themselves the Greater Human Imperium or GHI for short; an ultra-nationalist group that proclaimed its intentions to 'liberate humanity of the shackles put on them by the cowardly terran government' and was seeking to force the activation of the mass relays linking to batarian space in order to reveal the human race to the rest of the galaxy, while also expand into batarian space to force war with the slaver empire that represented the largest open wound in the face of the Milky Way and show the universe the might of the human race.

To be fair, Jack and Eva were sympathetic to their cause but the Sinclair Protocol was in place for a set of good reasons; who could declare that the human race was ready to enter into a hostile, long standing galaxy filled with dangers and civilizations that were old, when mankind was still in ancient times.

Besides whatever doubts they had surrounding the GHI vanished the moment they discovered that Frank Gorland the man responsible for the insurrections in Praxis was the leader of a GHI cell operating in the Exodus Cluster and the organization itself received funding from Fontaine Futuristics, the huge corrupt corporation that belonged to the family of Eva's old nemesis Karina Fontaine.

Fontaine's participation on the GHI, also explained the actions of the GHI in a different light: The GHI has been launching raids and corporate espionage at several corporations through the colony of Terra Nova, and handling credits and hardware to the inhabitants of the less developed settlements, in the old method of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor campaign to gain popularity. It was surprising and concerning just how many could forget that many people lose their jobs and salaries when a factory was bombed and sacked, alongside all of those injured and killed on those attacks.

Most of those strikes had been on Ryan Industries, one of the largest corporations on Terran Space and Fontaine Futuristics largest competitor.

The subsequent operation to eradicate the GHI cell on the colony world of Terra Nova failed to capture Frank Gorland or his mysterious leader known only as Atlas, but it served to reveal the participation of Fontaine Futuristics on the organization funding and targets.

The GHI was given a heavy blow, losing a great deal of support and infrastructure; while Fontaine Futuristic's image was left crippled beyond repair, forcing the company to accept a merging operation with Ryan Industries.

Now many years later, Jack Harper and Eva Core were ready for another mission to defend humanity from outer or inner threads; as everyone boarded the SSV Cajamarca, only three persons remained on the platform: Jack, Eva and the lilim Camille.

"Do you have my back?" she asked looking at him with a smile.

"Always" he answered, taking her hand and squishing it with warm care.

"Commander Harper, Specialist Core" the lilim woman waiting near the airlock called to them with a smiled etched on her face. "Time to leave" she stated.

"Coming" Eva said, releasing Jack's hand and walking forward giving a cold glare at the lilim for interrupting the moment.

"Commander a word" the lilim stopped him on his tracks.

Eva looked back at him with concern and suspicions at the lilim Valkyrie, yet continued walking towards the airlock, turning her back on them.

"Yes Valkyrie Dumas?" he asked.

"As you know I have been assigned as your XO, and as such it is my duty to aid and advise you, during the course of this operation; so may I speak freely?" she asked.

"Of course" he answered with amiability but felt a little offended by her tone.

"You love Specialist Core and I don't have to be lilim to see that; you are a bright, resourceful man Commander Harper; and if Admiral Comstock trusts you, then that is enough for me, but a true leader on a military operation needs to know that sometimes a moment could appear without warning in which he may be forced to sacrifice one of his subordinates for the sake of the mission" she stated.

"So you are saying that I am emotionally disabled to fulfill the mission, because I don't want to send my friends to their deaths?" he asked a little bit insulted by the lilim's insinuations.

"I am saying that a good leader is one that values the lives of his men more than fulfilling the mission; but also understand that the cost of failing a mission could be much higher than the lives of his men and his own" she countered.

"I like that" he answered. "A saying of your own making?" he asked.

"No, it is from another Jack of all trades" she joked. "A friend of mine once said that to me once, Jack Wynand; the Rapturian Republic's representative in the Terran Parliament" she answered.

_So she has a sense of humor and friends in high places it seems_

"Valkyrie Dumas I believe you and I are going to make a good team" he complimented.

"I say the same Commander Harper" she declared.

"Let's go, to fight for Earth and her colonies" he stated turning towards the ship.

"For mankind" she stated before following him a smile on his face.

-.

**2155.07.02**

**Shanxi, Settlement of Freedom Town**

**Turian operations base**

Lieutenant Vyrnnus commanding officer of the Cabal unit send as a vanguard tasked with taking the human settlement known as Freedom Town looked at the line of lifeless bodies consisting of eight of his turian brothers and sisters fallen in this attack.

Their corpses were neatly laid out in rows before being sealed up one by one in reflective plastic orange body bags; their deaths had been such a waste, they should have just destroyed this town from orbit and avoid the expense of turian blood and rounds.

When they arrived at this planet the fleet made a complete orbital survey around the globe, marking all potential targets; the main human settlement city represented the only highlighted point on this spirits damned planet; most of the other minor settlements have been abandoned and bereft of any advanced technology or resources, only one remained in the scan survey.

Unlike all other human settlements this has not been evacuated, perhaps the rush of the turian assault have made them forget this town in particular.

Turning his head to his left he stared at the pile of scorched and shattered human corpses they had piled up after the attack, the image made him felt a little better about the loss of so many of his subordinates.

Next to the pile one of his cabal biotic soldiers levitated the body of a small human whelp and threw it into the pile with haste.

_Good riddance, these spirits damned barbarians got was coming to them; they made them pay for all the turian blood spilled on the last two battles._

His forces had been ruthless on the attack, they wanted something to fight and kill and they got it; the small human settlement was in possession of only two dozen armed soldiers, that surprisingly lacked any equipment or kinetic barriers, but about half of them had those strange biotic powers they had seen on the first ground assault to the colony's city: electric and fire manipulation as well as biotic telekinesis.

Yet they lacked any sort of training and coordination as well as advanced combat gear, it was very likely they were nothing more than civilian guards or local militia support units.

His forces would have razed the town to the ground if command has not instructed them to capture at least a few human soldiers for interrogation and avoid if possible civilian casualties as to not lose face with the Citadel Council.

_The Council be damned, they should be taking every human male, female and child on this planet and shoot them dead at once. Screw the Council._

Approaching his second in command who saluted seeing Vyrnuss approaching, he ordered him to take them to the human prisoners.

The largest building on the settlement served as both the town command and the leader's residence; the few survivors from the attack were kept in the basement which the human used as a storage bay and that his forces had converted into a prison.

Passing through the residence, Vyrnuss scoffed in disgust, the living quarters of the settlement's leader were spacious and highly decorated in comparison of the rest of the town. In the floor laid the pelt of a fur covered animal, perhaps a trophy from a hunt or a symbol of status. Tall shelves covered one of the walls of the residence, containing paper books and stone carved figures of animals similar to varrens or other creatures.

For the leader of this colony to live in such lavish conditions in comparison to his fellow colonists was certainly an expression of the wasteful nature of this species. Perhaps the human search for extravagance and an overly materialistic existence had been the reason why a species with such level of technological advances have not come into contact with the rest of the galaxy yet.

He had to admit that their technology was impressive; the weapons recovered after the assault, have left the platoon technicians baffled. Apparently the humans used the same type of weapon configurations as the rest of the Citadel races with small arms, rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles but their guns were able to maintain a heavy rate of fire without overheating in an impressive time frame.

Being able to keep firing with a superior rate have allowed these two dozen armed humans to overwhelm the turian barriers and inflict several casualties on his forces: between injured and kills.

It was fortunate that the humans from this settlement lacked armor and barriers on their own troops or the turian casualties would have been far worse.

-.

At the basement of the compound, the remaining humans, mostly females and whelps have been confined to modified cargo containers serving as cells yet at the center of the room; three adult humans were shackled on their chairs waiting for interrogation.

One of them and the one which looked exhausted and gaunt was the only of the armed colonists they have left alive; Vyrnuss himself had taken his time to beat him into submission with his biotics and punches, the human male was barely conscious and bleeding from several open wounds.

The two remaining human prisoners were female; one was a medic who had been captured when the town had been secured, she looked frightened out of her mind, not surprising for a civilian.

The last human claimed upon capture that she was a scientist and teacher; they had found her in the same basement in which they now stood, caring for the children and colonists hiding there. Apparently the other colonists respected her as a leader.

"Attention!" the turian guards saluted as he entered, with the two female humans looking at him while the third kept looking at the ground, with a dazed expression, seemingly in a catatonic state.

"Stand by" he ordered, looking at his men and then at the prisoners.

"Prepare to transfer the prisoners to General Orinia's base; and recover everything from this settlement's computers" he ordered.

His soldiers saluted and unshackled the three human while the rest get ready to open the containers in order to escort the rest of the prisoners to the vehicles.

"Lieutenant Vyrnuss" a corporal called to him. "Communications are cut, we have been unable to contact General Orinia's base" he informed him.

_Now what, another malfunction?_

He looked back at the prison guards. "Keep the prisoners secure until I return" he ordered, turning around and walking towards the stairs.

Leaving the basement and arriving at the improvised headquarters his platoon had constructed at the top floor of the residence he was received by half a dozen of his tech experts struggling with the computers and omni-tools, trying to figure it out the comms blackout.

"Sir" one of them saluted, the others did the same.

"Apologies Lieutenant but we have just lost contact with the main base and the fleet; even our short range comms are down" the tech officer stated.

"What?" he asked.

Losing contact with the main base could be a malfunction, but losing contact with the fleet in orbit and within their area of operations, something was wrong; his instincts were proven right when a turian infantry soldier rushed through the door, distress written all over his face.

"Lieutenant Vyrnuss, enemy gunships incoming from the east" he shouted, to the surprise of the entire room.

Right on cue, an explosion outside made the ground shake; most likely a missile strike on one of their positions.

"All soldiers get ready, Cabal units move up, time to show these primitives the wrath of the turian military" he shouted, received a chorus of shouts in response.

Rushing through the outer door we was received by a chaotic picture outside, infantry transport vehicles lay destroyed, their shattered remnants turned into twisted piles of deformed metal, with fire and smoke arising from their wrecks. Several impact craters filled the streets, a clear image of the ruthless rain of explosives unleashed upon them by the human gunships.

Yet looking towards the sky, his heart skipped a beat, an immense cloud of mechanical drones moving like a black swarm of steel birds loaded with thrusters hovered around the town hiding the sun and sky with each passing over them in perfect synchrony like a living black fabric caught in the wind.

As several of his troops were trying to take cover and open fire, the black swarm reacted as a single entity and descended upon them like a thundering living wave of giant predatory insects. Whatever discipline and training remained ingrained on the dozen turian soldiers vanished in an instant as all of them madly opened fire at the swarm, their riffles shaking in their talons and their eyes filled with fear and primal instinct of the prey staring at a gigantic predator.

The swarm of drones was lit like fire show, with the mass accelerator rounds hitting hundreds of kinetic barriers but the chaotic movement of the drones in the swarm prevented any type of concentrated fire on any of them, the moment a round hit one of them, another drone took its place taking the hit while the other's barriers recharged, so not a single one of the drones fell upon turian firepower.

Closing in the drone swarm unleashed dozens of low yield laser beams on each turian soldier, in mere seconds the entire squad has been annihilated, their barriers bypassed or overloaded by the laser beams in nanoseconds, and their armors and carapaces melted away by the heat of the lasers. Their bodies now laying the street, with their metallic armors glowing like embers.

Vyrnuss looked at the massacre, his soul filled with rage and disgust; these humans were just like the suit-rats.

_Cowards and slackers like the quarians, hiding behind their synthetic servants and completely ignorant of the dangers of creating armies of mechanical killers._

_That swarm and drones may be also emitting interference signals in order to cut our comms._

Looking back at the swarm and then at his troops he gathered his voice and signaled them to move out. "Gather up the survivors, we must reach the vehicles and find heavy weaponry in order to take out that swarm; all of you with me, if the swarm moves to attack us, take cover and Cabal units deploy your biotic barriers" he ordered.

Hearing the sound of firepower on the other side of the settlement his platoon moved out and ran towards the battle; the swarm follow hovered over them, encircling them like a predator surrounding its prey yet refusing to attack even after one of his soldiers fired upon the swarm.

"Don't shot, our riffles are not going to have a proper effect, we need heavier firepower" he ordered.

As if on cue, mass accelerator cannons were unleashed upon the swarm from a location next to them, those cannons made satisfactory effect on the swarm; taking down a few drones, but the swarm reacted quickly spreading themselves out in a larger cloud instead of forming clusters for the cannons to fire upon.

Moving through the prefabricated buildings of the settlement they finally reached the main motor home and parking lot where his troop carriers rested. The remainder of the main platoon was putting up a good fight against the swarm and a few of the human gunships, the soldiers made a living circle around the APCs firing on the human attack crafts and drones with their riffles while some of them used anti-vehicle rocket launchers, that were of little effect on the drones and gunships as the drone's lasers intercepted the tracking missiles before they were even close to reach their targets.

His remaining Cabal operatives were also making good effort protecting the vehicles and throwing biotic attacks on the swarm and gunships, neither of them were getting hit by the biotic pushes and singularities but they hold range in order to avoid them.

Suddenly the gunships retreated and the swarm dispersed covering them.

The minute of confusion and relief did not lasted long, as he reunited with his forces, several of his soldiers looking still at the sky were hit by gunfire coming from the side; as human troops converged from all sides to surround them.

Vyrnuss's heart once again skipped a beat, he recognized them, they were those bulky iron soldier the humans called praetorians. Their barriers and weapons were completely suitable to their sizes, with barrage after barrage of turian rounds unable to break through their barriers and armor; while their huge 'rivet guns' pierced through turian barriers and armors like a steel talon cutting through fresh meat.

"Cabal units' form a perimeter around the vehicles, first squad barriers, second squad artillery and singularity strikes" he ordered.

They needed to defend the APCs; they were the only heavy firepower at their disposal and the only means of escape.

His plan lasted mere seconds as a huge iron monster jumped over one of his APCs, breaking the kinetic barriers and shocking the soldiers around it with a huge biotic Nova, before using its enormous metallic hands to rip through the vehicle's armor plating and throwing an explosive inside.

The mech made a jet jump with its thrusters out of the vehicle before the APC was blown into pieces, taking the crew and soldiers around it in the process. In that moment the gunships and drone swarm moved towards them, his remaining three vehicles were destroyed by rocket fire from the gunships and praetorians; and his troops were being swiftly decimated by the drones and heavy weapons fire as even the biotic barriers of the cabal units were unable to protect them as the drone's lasers overwhelmed the biotic barriers in seconds.

_It was a particularly disturbing pain for a biotic that of an ion laser hitting his summoned biotic bubble; like that of an electric needle piercing through exposed skin._

His remaining troops and he took cover inside a human vehicle repair workshop; they had been reduced to only eight soldiers including him; and he was the last Cabal.

Closing the garage door and blocking it with crates and pieces of machinery they stood prepare to defend their position. One of his men was desperately trying to contact for help, everyone could tell that he was terrified and no one could blame him. They were backed into a corner receiving only static at their cries for help.

"Soldiers this is it" he declared. "These filthy human barbarians have us by the fringe, but we will not surrender, we will kill as many of these aliens as possible and fight to the last thermal clip, we will fight here, we will die here, we will fall like turians, it has been an honor" he declared to the yell of his troops.

All rifles pointed at the door, grenades were being grabbed, Vyrnuss was focusing his biotics, they were ready…o so they though.

The place shook as a huge iron monster barged through the left wall, its immense drill in front like a krogan kakliosaur cavalry charging forward with a spear on his hands; metal and concrete were like polystyrene for that beast.

Reacting quickly Vyrnuss unleashed a biotic singularity in front of the creature, capturing it in an anti-gravity field, they began firing on the suspended creature which struggled to escape, before two metallic cylinder came through the opening.

"**Take cover"** he ordered, jumping behind a crate, before two powerful shockwaves yet no discerning explosions burst next to them unleashing a blinding bright light that filled the room.

A few of his men were left disoriented by the flash bang grenades and they were easy prey when four more praetorians rushed through the opening.

Vyrnuss and his remaining men fought on, one of creatures' barriers broke at his continuing fire and biotic warps but his weapon jammed as the alarm of overheating ringed from the riffle. Those mere seconds of pause were enough for one of the medium size iron soldiers to hit him with a biotic wave and push him into the corner, with him losing his gun on the process.

Looking gazes with his opponent whose eyes were barely hidden behind the iron helmed, Vyrnuss prepared to fight until his last breath, grabbing his side blade or 'military issued talon', he adopted a defensive.

"I refuse to be beaten by one of you damned humans" he stated, hate and resentment dripping from his voice. "If I die, I will take your life first" he said as he unleashed a biotic charge forward, pushing the human super soldier back for a second.

Deploying his omni-blade on his left arm and his combat talon on his right he made a mad dash at his opponent, but the praetorian iron soldier was impressively fast by its size, and either block or deflected most of his attempts to stab him.

Getting frustrated he lifted his arm and attempted to made an upper stab, but the praetorian caught his arm mid-attack, crushing it. His gauntlet, carapace and bones shattered under the pressure of the beast's iron grip while a surge of pain from the broken arm rushed through his body.

He released a yell of pain looking at his enemy with immense resentment but also a shearing amount of fear, as he could see the determination and anger of the human behind the visor.

Using the last of his strength, he began to summon a biotic blast in order to free himself or at least take his opponent with him.

An unimaginable amount of pain overwhelmed his body followed by the feeling of cold sharp metal going through his guts. He felt deep horror upon laying eyes on his chest, seeing the iron drill of the creature stuck at the center of his body painting the lower side of the creature with turian blue blood; the drill made a brutal spinning and another eruption of blue blood surged from his chest before absolute pain accompanied by the exhalation of his last breath signaled his death.

-.

After the battle with the turians, the Praetorian squad sent to the settlement of Freedom Town, began to hasten up in the operation, evacuating the civilians and prisoners before the turian forces could realize that their communications had been jammed. If the fleet in orbit discovers them there, they would be decimated by orbital bombardment.

"Poor bastards these idiot hippies, they should have evacuated when they could; yet they did not deserve this" a female praetorian soldier named Susanne added while looking at the pile of human corpses resting in the middle of the town.

"I agree, but we have just made things right, these turian bastards paid for what they did" Corporal Jonny Taggart, ace praetorian soldier added.

"By the Iron fist of the praetorian 3° division" another praetorian declared with pride, raising his arm and clenched fist in victory.

Soldiers around him nodded and shouted: yeahh; before returning to their respective tasks.

Seeing the cloaked drone camera images of the settlement's women and children massacred by the turians had activated the killer instinct of every praetorian in the unit. Even though most of them hold tremendous distrust for the people of Freedom Town, which for many was a wannabe cult preaching on the simple life of harmony with nature and god; yet also instilling paranoia and resentment on its inhabitants.

The inhabitants of the capital Quinhai tend to refer to the town Freedom Town as the neo hippies community.

The fact that they had been able to kill a few turians during their attack clearly showed that they had even come into possession of a secret cache of illegally acquired weapons; in a way it was fortunate that the town leader Isaac Walker was death, killed during the attack on his residence; otherwise upon 'rescue' he would have been prosecuted for the possession of non-authorized mass accelerator weapons and plasmids.

And to the Shanxi's garrison fortune, the weapons acquired by the turians from the Freedon Town settlers were mostly outdated models, certainly bellow the quality of modern Alliance weaponry; so there was little risk that their tech could be compromise and in risk of enemy tampering.

-.

The only remaining turians left had taken shelter on the town hall residence using their human prisoners as hostages; a careful rescue and elimination operation was executed, using the AC conducts above the basement as an entry point to infiltrate the place undetected.

The only two biotics of the praetorian main fire team corporal John Taggart and private Jee-Woon Park volunteered, removing themselves out of their exo-suits in order to fit through the conducts.

Coordinating their infiltration with the troops outside they were able to mark their targets and eliminate the turian guards without losing a single hostage or soldier.

After releasing the hostages they landed the few shuttles at their disposal for the unit prepared to evacuate at last.

"Thank you for your help, soldier" a woman on her thirties, blonde with blue eyes thanked Johnny.

"You are welcome miss…" he answered.

"Lamb, Dr. Sofia Lamb" she answered her face containing a wide smile from ear to ear while her tone seemed warm, her eyes seemed distant, as if not looking at him.

-.

**2155.07.03**

**Shanxi, Capital city of Quinhai**

**Nearly a week after the beginning of the turian invasion**

_It has been 8 days since the Turians began their assault, my colonial guard and militia stand around 140000 men strong, while according to our Intel and projections the Turians hold three Legions of 360000 trained soldiers, yet we have the defenders advantage on our side, and they do not know anything about our technology and military doctrine._

_The enemy is disciplined and very well organized just like Intel has described them; the Turians the best fighting force in the galaxy according to themselves and the Quarian Codex, they have mostly proven their reputation right, so far. Even though the tachyon shield over the city has prevented the Turians from bombarding the capital from orbit, eliminating their greatest advantage (orbital supremacy: the capability to destroy any planet side target from upper orbit); they have the numbers on their side and the further this siege continues the greater is the risk over the remaining civilian population of the city._

_Our engineers and working crews have constructed a defensive perimeter around the center of Quinhai organized around the three defensive towers of the city by assembling together barricades and trenches in the main streets. We were fortunate enough to evacuate most of the people from the outposts and towns to the capital where we intent to make our stand._

_For now most of the battle is focused on the city's outskirts, inside the tachyon shield coverage but outside the defensive perimeter and the range of our limited artillery and long range cannons._

_I thank God and the careful Terran planning that the standard colonization doctrine is ensuring the construction of a central colony Hub before allowing the colonization of the rest of the planet, Quinhai's current population is about a quarter of a million people as the rest of Shanxi was evacuated either to the capital's shelters or off planet; with the notable exception of the independent settlement of Freedom Town._

_As expected the village was attacked by the turians which destroyed most of the settlement with orbital shots before overwhelming its meager defenders and inhabitants with their ground forces._

_After deploying a disruption field to prevent enemy retribution, I send a praetorian unit to liberate and evacuate what was left of the town, I am glad they were able to extract the remaining civilians and destroy the turian platoon there. Also I am impressed with the new sentry drone attack squadron dubbed by the R&D department as the 'Iron Flock'; I have my doubts about using synthetic armies on the battlefield._

_I mean: where is the honor in leading a machine army, without free will?_

_The remaining civilians are all gather in the city hoping that we can defend them from the alien invaders._

_I received a message from High-Com yesterday, the Alliance's Fifth and Sixth fleets are gathering up near the star base on the Theta Nebula just on the other side of the Shanxi-Theta partner relay but they will not commit themselves to an assault until they are ready and the Parliament dictates the order._

_Damn politicians, they claim they do not want to start a war; not realizing that there is already a war here and human soldiers are dying by the hundreds._

_The Turian commander seems to be fairly capable and experienced, before abandoning the primary spaceport located on the outskirts of the city and outside the coverage of the tachyon shield I instructed the engineers to plant explosive charges ready to detonate if the Turians were enter to occupy the complex; eliminating a possible beach head for the invasion and tacking some enemy forces in the process._

_The turian ships instead simply bombarded the railway and road leading to the spaceport from orbit before sending a survey team with service drones. Upon realizing the place was rigged they made no attempt to capture it, instead they just blew it up with a heavy salvo of artillery. I should have known the enemy was not going to fall for that simple trap._

_The defense of the city has been going rather well actually, with the main streets blocked by hastily constructed barricades or demolished buildings the Turians had been sending their units through minor streets becoming easy prey for our snipers and ambushes. The main Turian APC that also serves as their main tank is similar to the ones described in Codex as a Krogan Tomkah APC, a slow and bulky vehicle; it is not suitable for moving and maneuvering through Quinhai__'s narrow streets becoming an easy prey for our anti-tank artillery and our Sandtiger battle tanks._

_I have organized my forces defending several critical choke points around the outer defensive perimeter of the city, but the Turians are constantly trying to break through the main barricades with sheering force alone without regard for their own casualties. As my engineering teams and working drones are constantly repairing and reinforcing the barricades, the best of our Special Forces units and combat praetorian squads have been conducting counterstrikes on them._

_We have managed to maintain a stable defense strategy in part thanks to the fabricator units on the colony__'s central construction yard that had been assembling defensive turrets and combat drones, allowing us to offset our numerical disadvantage against the enemy._

_Despite all of this, the Turian army's determination has not falter; so far our casualties are below 12% while Turians casualties may be above 40%, yet they have only been fighting harder. More importantly as they have been unable to use their war ships in orbit, they have been using their ground artillery on every building in their path, conducting a Coventry type urban destruction in order to nullify the defensive environment the city provides._

_Frankly I am tired of waiting, the fleets are just outside the next mass relay but High-Com has not given the order to engage, with the excuse that an army group tasked with liberating Shanxi has not joined them yet. If the fleets will not move then I will; my forces are preparing a massive counter attack spear headed by our main Special Forces Squadrons and the entirety of our armor Division._

_In this moment I wonder if the reason why I was assigned to this back water colony, practically on the edge of the frontier and without any Rift gate connection was because of my beliefs. Christians, Muslims or Jewish are not very popular and numerous on the Alliance'__s military outside Earth and the central colonies, most of the leadership of the fleet is atheist or at least agnostic; the terran macro culture in particular tends to embrace anti spiritual and rationalistic beliefs._

_Also genetics and cybernetic augmentations have become so common among the Terran people more so in the military that religious people (generally 'gen purists': anti enhancement members of society) are seen like traditionalistic as best or luddites fanatics as worst. But I am Christian like the rest of my family and now I ask God for good fortune in the coming days, just like an endless number of commanders on an endless number of battlefields._

_I will begin preparing the final arrangements for a counter offensive in the next few days, time to show the Turians what Human determination and resolve are capable._

_In these hours of uncertainty I cannot help but think of an old poem I read once; The Lays of Ancient Rome_

_As the Barbarians lay outside the walls of Rome, then out spoke the brave centurion Horatius; the captain of the gate:_

"_To every man upon this earth"_

"_Death will come soon or late"_

"_And how can a man die better"_

"_Than facing fearful odds"_

"_For the ashes of his fathers"_

"_And the temples of his gods"_

_May God stand with us in the battle to come_

Journal of General George Williams; CO of the Shanxi garrison; July 3° 2155

-.

**2155.07.04**

**Turian Forward Base**

General Orinia of the Turian 8° Legion had never felt so much frustration since her earliest days in the Turian military camp. A lifetime of discipline and the belief that no task was insurmountable seemed to falter with each day her troops suffered catastrophic casualties in their attempts to break through the Human's wall of death (the nickname her troops had bestowed upon the city's line of defense, filled with traps, enemy turrets, snipers and ambushes); platoons after platoons have been decimated with each attempt to make a breach in the defensive perimeter around the city.

Standard Turian ground doctrine relied heavily on the use superior firepower and a combine arms approach. The fleet and airships attacking from above, isolating enemy positions and wreaking havoc and confusion; then heavy armor divisions spear headed by tanks and APCs were tasked with cutting through the opponent's defensive lines creating as much damage as possible in the enemy's organization so as the infantry could sweep away any resistance remaining.

With that Super kinetic barrier protecting the human city from orbital bombardment, the siege of the human colony had turned a simple assault and occupation into a grinding urban warfare scenario, a fight house by house in which the defenders main objective was to bleed the attackers dry.

Aerial support for the troops was difficult as well; the humans have positioned anti-air defenses in various buildings, with most of their heavier defenses and long range anti-air guns centered around three large towers that hold a triangle shape perimeter focused on the City center.

These towers area of effect was considerable large, if any attack gunship moved to support the ground troops within the tower's range, its heavy laser cannons simultaneously open fire on the vessel as soon as they caught sight of it. Only by the use of overwhelming numbers and plenty of sacrifices it was possible for the air-ships to provide any discernible aid to the battle on the city's streets.

Intending to cripple the enemy automatic defenses (drone turrets placed in every choke point) she ordered her forces to destroy the Human stationary defenses with long range explosives and mortars. It had not been easy, an entire army of combat drones armed with lasers and mass accelerator weapons constantly hassled and surrounded those soldiers attempting to sabotage their defenses.

The use of synthetic units in warfare on such a way had disgusted General Orinia and most of her fellow officers. Only the Quarians had been cowards enough to relegate the mandate of war and defense in their synthetic creations; using an army without soul, without loyalty and without spirit to fight their own battles.

Yet the Quarians have received what they deserved when the Geth rebelled and expelled them from Rannoch, the ignorant Quarians had paid the price for their arrogant trust in AIs and their lack of fighting spirit. For their part it seems like in truth humans only seem to relegate synthetics for auxiliary tasks in combat, their soldiers had been fighting with valor and discipline worthy of even Orinia's respect.

They have managed to recover one of the human automatic turrets with the great sacrifice of an entire platoon, as their first attempt to capture resulted in the device self-destruct while the second was follow by human troop's persecution, with an enemy squad attempting to prevent the capture of their technology. The tech experts were amazed by the systems of the sentry turrets.

According to the tech team, it was a laser cannon similar to the one of a ship's point defense GARDIAN array, but these laser cannons in particular used some kind of negative ion charge in the beam capable of frying electronic systems in nano seconds, according to the techies not even the Salarians or Asari had anything like this.

Her omni tool blinked and the reports from the last engagement came into shape, detailing the growing list of KIA and many more wounded on the last attempt to break through the wall of death. A pair of Human prisoners had been accounted at least.

The last item of the report put her mind on ease; at least now she knew where to go next, she was simply running out of ideas, other than the unthinkable.

Arriving at the prefabricated base building used as a prison, she was surprised to discover General Desolas Arterius already there, approaching the guards holding the two human soldiers.

The guards saluted at the arrival of both generals, while the two prisoners exchanged looks before directing their hatred filled gazes on the two high ranking turians. The prisoners looked unremarkable, both of them males, even though the one of the right looked shorter and of paler skin to the one of the right. They were both handcuffed to chairs, with manacles modified to prevent the use of those electric shocks or pyro kinesis abilities the humans were able to wield according to the troops.

The manacles were designed to contain the energy coming from the human's hands ensuring that any of the men would be unable to use their powers without hurting themselves.

For safety reasons they had disposed the two prisoners of their combat armors leaving them only on their fatigues and underwear clothes.

"Sir, we captured these two humans in the last assault" one soldier informed them.

"Ahhh humans" Desolas made a pause looking at the two aliens with contempt. "You two are the first I've personally met" he declared.

"And you are the first bird I've met" one of the humans answered with contempt.

One of the turian guards handed General Arterius a human riffle, the weapon had an elegant shape nearly matching asari design; yet also containing the sharp edges and mean aesthetics that seemed to define human military design.

"Each of them was armed with one of these riffles" the soldier explained pointing at the riffle.

"I have to admit these are remarkable weapons" the general answered holding the riffle, studying it with care. "My soldiers have stated that your guns are capable of maintaining rate of fire without overheating, quite the achievement your people have made, but technology alone does not grant you victory" he stated to the two prisoners.

"So why you are losing then?" the human soldier at the left mocked; smiling at the general.

The guard next to the human punched the back of his riffle at the human's nose, the soft tissue breaking with a crack as a current of red fluid emanated from the injury.

"That's enough!" the other human declared with bravery on his voice. "We are prisoners of war, any injury inflicted to us shall be repaid in kind to each of our turian prisoners, think carefully about what are you going to do next" the second human declared, as the rest of the guards exchanged looks of anger at the threat said by the alien.

"Your kind are clearly advanced possessing remarkable tech, yet you still have so much to learn and when we conquer your Earth I look forward to teaching you" Desolas Arterius declared to the distress of the humans, yet the injured one released a short laugh while looking at the General with a large smile on his face.

"Yes, because your fleet was so successful in the last two battles" the human laughed. "You don't even know the location of Earth or her defenses" the human made a dark smile. "But we know the location of your homeworld of Palaven and the weaknesses of your fleet" he stated to the shock of every turian in the room.

"The admirals of the terran navy could already be discussing how to attack the Trebia System" the injured human declared with a malicious smile in his face covered with blood his voice was slightly squeaky like the one of a salarian because of the broken nose.

General Arterius reacted with fury to the human's threat.

"Arrogant newcomers, always believing you are the center of the universe" the general said to the human.

"We will make sure to teach your kind humility and the order of things in the galaxy, as we did to the krogans" he declared grabbing the human by the head fur and forcing him to lock gazes; the voice of General Arterius losing its previous composure, the human merely stared at the general with coldness while his partner kept silence.

"Enough interrogation General Arterius" she ordered calling the attention of the entire room.

"General Orinia" her fellow turian general saluted her as did the rest of the turian soldiers on the room.

"I will need your report of the last assault as soon as possible, bring it to my office within two hours; also get these prisoners back into their cells, alive and unharmed, we may need them for future negotiations" she ordered, while she and Desolas Arterius had the same official rank, as the most senior of officers on most high ranking turian of the three legions on Shanxi, she was the commander in chief for all ground operations on this planet and system.

His colleague nodded even though his face betrayed some level of begrudging acceptance.

"I will have it ready as soon as possible General" he answered with cordiality.

With nothing else to say, she turned around and walked towards the door; arriving at her office she collapsed into her bunk and released a heavy sight. She was exhausted; they had been attacking none stop for days on the turian defenses receiving nothing but their own blood as a reward for each meter gained and loss in their advances.

The human prisoner's mention of Palaven has stirred her nerves up; the Primarch's orders were to find everything about the enemy as possible in order to take advantage and force them into the negotiation table with a clear set of conditions. But the humans knew more about the turian Hierarchy than she knew about their new enemy.

_These are not spirits damned batarian slavers or krogan pirates; this is an enemy with a clear technological edge and a capable military. If we don't defeat them now and force terms on them, the Hierarchy's military prestige and political standing will be shattered beyond belief. She was not going to let a race of ignorant filthy barbarians to content for the turian's place in the Citadel without a fight._

A single idea creped on her mind, one that could grant them victory and save countless turian lives but that could also destroy her career and the one of every single officer under her command.

_If everything else fails, then I will try to convince the admirals to do it, a part of me hopes that they refuse, at least I will be able to say without guilt and regret that I wanted to do it and I was willing to sacrifice myself for the lives of my soldiers and the glorious victory._

Exhausted she tried to rest for a few hours.

-.

After two hours of light sleep, she activated her omni-tool reading the long list of countless reports, few of them good.

She needed to clear her head so she decided to see to the situation outside, abandoning her dorm. The Turian forward base was simple, hastily constructed a few miles from the human main settlement within a clear plain terrain that could serve as a landing site for the support ships. Landing ships had been converted into barracks and containers into storage rooms. A simple barricade surrounded the base with watchtowers in each entrance; in a secure edge of the camp was the field hospital.

A few containers kept the beds for the patients in most critical conditions, the rest were kept out in the open with injured bodies pilling up next to the other. As she approached the place several soldiers saluted her, even some of the injured despite the fact some of them looked like they were not in condition to walk or remain awake. One of the medics approached her before saluting.

"General fifteen more wounded have arrived, currently we are being treated but we are beyond our capacity, if this rate of injures continues we may be facing a higher rate of casualties" the medic informed her.

"Focus on the less severe cases, we need as much people back in the frontlines as soon as possible; but keep the most critical alive" she ordered.

"GENERAL!" A lieutenant called her, before stopping and saluted. "The human garrison commander has just sent a transmission; he requests to speak with you and the rest of the officers".

All around the soldiers looked at her surprised, some looked furious at the Human outgoing actions, some looked hopeful that they may be willing to discuss terms of surrender; for Orinia she was sure that the enemy commander General Williams just wanted to find anything on his enemy.

-.

Accompanied by her body guards and senior staff she headed to the command center; the guards saluted her when they entered the area of operations. Taking a seat on the table she exchanged looks with the rest of the Legion commanders; the three legions deployed on this planet were the 8°, 9° and 10° legion of the turian peacekeeping forces.

They were under the respective command of General Orinia, General Lukros and General Arterius; with a number of colonels and mayors leading divisions of Special Forces, armed divisions, armigers and cabal units.

This invasion was one of the largest ground operations of the Hierarchy in recent galactic history.

With all of the senior staff on their seats she signaled the comms officer to open the transmission, after a few seconds the face of the human known as General George Williams appeared on the largest computer screen.

"General Williams" she stated with venom on her voice. "Have you called to discuss terms of surrender?" she asked, as the face of the human general shaped into a smile.

"Only if it is your surrender the one you are suggesting General Orinia" the human answered to the uproar and disgust of the turian officers at the table.

"You cannot win Human, we have you surrounded and outnumber" General Desolas Arterius shouted as he stood up from his chair.

"Your numbers dwindle with each day General Arterius; we have supplies, ammo and enough will to hold the line for months; but I am guessing you do not have months to maintain the siege, not with the Citadel Council breathing on your necks" the human General stated as the Turian officers exchanged looks of concern.

"Yes we already know about your Council" he explained. "Do they know about your latest skirmishes?" he asked with tone filled with mockery.

"The Council knows full well about this conflict, they are already gathering reinforcements" Oriana lied and everyone on that side of the transmission knew it. "Soon, your insignificant species will face the full might of the entire Citadel Council" she finally declared trying to put her opponent off balance with fear.

"Please General, don't patronize me, you can do better than that" the human male declared.

"Our prisoners and Intel have confirmed that your allies do not know about this little war you have gotten yourselves into, you are running out of time turian; I know for a fact that your species is dextro based, while this planet has a levo based ecology, all of your food needs to be exported. You won't be able to keep your supply lines hidden from your allies for too long; and for what I can see in your codex, declaring war on a recently discovered species could put your people in a serious diplomatic incident" General Williams finally stated with certainty in his voice yet his expression suddenly faltered as soon as he finished speaking.

"Look General Orinia; neither of us are politicians or diplomats, we are soldiers with a mission to protect our nations and their interests; but let's negotiate for once, you have dozens of my men at your custody and I have plenty of yours, I want to discuss a prisoner's exchange" he finally stated.

For a few seconds everyone in the table exchange looks, the mind of General Orinia was feeling conflicted. General Williams was right, the Council was not going to condone the occupation of the colony of a recently discover species, especially if all of this could lead them into a larger galactic scale war.

This operation was supposed to be a simple attack with overwhelming force in order to force this species into submission or at least a peace agreement without poisoning against the Citadel and Hierarchy, as well as gaining information about their technology, culture and government. Instead this battle had turned into the bloodiest stalemate in Turian history since the end of the Krogan Rebellions.

"There won't be any exchange, General Williams, if you so much as hurt those Turians under your captivity we will make your entire species pay, a hundred and then a thousand times" General Arterius stood from his seat and stated taking the attention of the enemy commander and the rest of the room.

"Your men have been fighting valiantly, truly worthy of even my respect General Williams" he conceded. "But you are not going to win, no matter how large your empire is, the Citadel has governed the galaxy for a thousand years and will continue to do so for a thousand more, your species shall only be another footnote in the annals of galactic history; you should have surrender when you had the change" he finally sentenced.

For a moment no one said anything before the human commander looked at something on the other side of the room from which he was transmitting, and adopted a more angry and determined gaze.

"It is you the one who are running out of time General Arterius you should have taken our peace offer when you could. There is an old human saying: Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish, know this will end with blood, the entire galaxy shall know you came to the wrong neighborhood and you knock on the wrong door." General Williams stated before the screen went black.

With nothing left to discuss, Orinia and the rest of the senior officers declared an end to the meeting. She would talk later with Arterius and confront him on his insubordination.

-.

Later that same day, Orinia stood witness to the interrogation of several more Human prisoners, who were cooperative to an extension, they refused to speak anything about the position of their defenses but they were willing to explain a few things regarding their technology and cultural values.

The Super Kinetic barrier over the city apparently was an electromagnetic force field of some kind which the Humans referred to as a Tachyon Shield. An impressive technological feat the Hierarchy and every race on Citadel Space would do anything to have.

As for the humans themselves Orinia could honestly say they were just as impressive as their technology. Her first time seeing an actual human had been on the medical bay of the Vostra several days ago, where a boarding team had recovered several bodies from the destroyed human warships. Although they had been exposed to the void and some were badly burned by the explosion of their ships, her first reaction had been of dismissal and disappointment:

_That was the face of the enemy? That was the new race that had destroyed half a Turian fleet and a dreadnought?_

They were mammal in nature according to basic scanning, with clear gender separation of male and female, there were not enough cultural or biological indications to conclude this race possessed any cast like system or ruling caste, like Salarian Dalatrasses or Asari Matriarchs.

These Humans looked completely unremarkable in appearance: Their skin looked soft like paper nothing like the tough leather almost aquatic skin of the Asari; they possessed no claws or strong talons like Turians or Elcor, their digits looked even weaker than those of a Drell although perhaps stronger than those of the Asari; their bodies seemed to lack any sort of protection like Krogans and Turians; and their body shape seem to made them lumbering and slow like batarians, with weak legs in comparison to Quarians, Turians or Salarians. Her impressions didn't pass the first day, medical scans and analysis made by the xeno biologist teams revealed several impressive findings regarding these Humans.

According to the doctors Humans were in possession of incredible strong bones reinforced by carbon fiber, remarkable muscle tone making them not as fast as a salarian but certainly more agile than a Turian, Krogan or Batarian; also their brains possessed impressive neural pathways that seem to provide them with advance learning abilities and nearly eidetic memory.

However the most impressive trait of the humans besides the fact that among those bodies found was a wide range of genetic diversity in comparison to other races was the presence in several humans of a set of tumor like nodules in several parts of the body, similar to biotic nerve nodules but different as a set of secondary neural connections between themselves and the central nerves on the spinal column seemed to indicate the humans were born with genetically inherit biotic abilities.

The first engagements in the human city seemed to confirm that, Turian troops have charged into a human entrench position, and a single human soldier had created some sort of gravitational singularity that had left the Turian soldiers floating and defenseless against human riffle fire unable to shoot back as they were killed by static machine gun fire, later that same day a Turian grenade was stop mid-air and return to the sender by a human 'flaring' with a yellow aura using telekinesis.

No one knew what should they expect after a battle on the second day of the invasion where a Human soldier wearing a bulky red metallic armor summoned a fire ball on his hand and unleashed an inferno over an entrench Turian position, that very day she received more than a dozen reports detailing similar situations; manipulation of electric currents, telekinesis, pyro kinesis, even some rumors of mind control.

On the third day, one of her officers a Lieutenant Donkectus was abducted when a human Commando made some kind of Biotic charge appearing only meters behind the Turian position and deploying some kind of cryo energy field or chemical cold fluid that literally frozen a dozen Turians including Lieutenant Donkectus before grabbing the paralyzed officer and making another biotic jump disappearing from view before the rest of the platoon in a cloud of red mist according to reports.

Yet it had not been the unusual set of abilities of the Humans simple troopers that had caused the greatest concerns among her troops but rather the tremendously powerful super soldiers known by the Humans as Praetorians that had caused so many casualties in latter engagements; the ones that always seemed to present a real game changer every time they were deployed in the battlefield.

In an attempt to understand their enemy a Turian unit had feigned retreat prompting the Humans to pursue them, it had worked despite the fact it had taken the lives of six Turian soldiers to bring down a single Praetorian Bouncer.

The examination of the fallen Praetorian has provided so much needed answers, their initial hypothesis that the Praetorians were synthetic soldiers was proven wrong as soon they opened the huge metallic body and found a human being inside. Saying the tech experts were impressed would be an understatement, the exo suit was apparently made of an organic living tissue with cybernetic implants that gave the suit's user incredible physical strength and resistance, serving as a sort of symbiotic armor, with remarkable shielding and enhanced combat capabilities.

She did not knew if she was more impressed or disgusted of the humans, while they did not completely hide behind synthetic soldiers like the Quarians did with the Geth, they performed cybernetic augmentations on their own soldiers, distorting their own flesh in order to enhance the capabilities of their elite soldiers. In the end she could not help to imagine how many Turians lives could be saved if the Hierarchy's military had their own Praetorian exo suits.

Her eyes hurt, she had barely sleep since the last failed assault on the Human eastern fort; she had planned the attack for hours only to fail: with several snipers at the rooftops of the buildings around the fort laying suppressive fire and three armored tanks spearheading the attack it seems like the battle was on their favor; until a single Human hover tank broke through the Turian lines and destroyed in mere minutes all the Turian vehicles, also a unit of Praetorian soldiers equipped with jump jets managed to move in and surround their forces while also deploying many of their spirits be damned sentry turrets turning the retreat of her forces into a massacre.

General Arterius and Colonel Garna Therinus had suggested targeting the Human city with their ships main mass accelerator weapons in order to break the energy shield.

Every part of Orinia wanted to throw away Citadel Conventions through the airlock and firing everything they have in an attempt to destroy that spirits damned super barrier, many would claim that she had every justification as this was not a regular situation (Citadel Conventions did not say anything about firing on a planetary city sized energy shield), yet a small part of her being knew that if they open fire on a garden class world no matter the excuse her name and the ones of every single one of her soldiers would be tainted for all history.

At her refusal and the ones of Admirals Victus and Survan, General Arterius had suggested an attack on the Human's main power plant most likely the source of energy for the tachyon shield; in the end she had agreed to a joint assault, her main force was to launch a simultaneous attack on the three primary human defensive positions focused on the main forts, while General Arterius himself and his elite unit would infiltrate near the river that cross the city and headed into the sewers from where they could go behind the enemy's defensive perimeter.

Later that day she spoke with Admiral Justinius and discussed one last resort strategy in case of Arterius' failure, she was hoping it would not come to that.

-.

**2155.07.05**

**Flakturm**** Flak Tower 3, defensive perimeter of Quinhai**

"Lieutenant Petrovsky, our cloaked reconnaissance drones have located a Turian array of communications in a building nearby. Our analysts believe the enemy may be using it to try to decode our communications while also securing theirs Captain Lian Yu explained as he showed a projection of the building with the objective and its location.

"So you want me and my fireteam to destroy it" Lieutenant Oleg Petrovsky asked.

"No, I want you to hack it; by providing false orders and Intel we can wreak havoc on the enemy's chain of command" Captain Lian explained. "I am sending a combat engineer with you; your mission is to provide an escort for Private Shen'ji Lin, as she hacks the Turian array."

"The city's sewer network is still intact in this sector (most of the sewers on the city had been compromised by the collapse of buildings over them, or sealed on purpose in order to prevent the enemy from using them), you will move behind the Turian forward positions while the armor division shall draw the attention of the Turians in the sector by making a hit and run attack" he continued. "Do you think your team is ready?"

"We are Captain!" Petrovsky answered. "We know this city, and we are ready to take it back from these aliens."

-.

"I will never take that smell of my nose" a private commented as soon as they abandoned the sewers, and returned to the streets of Quinhai.

"When this is over I am going to take a long vacation on Eden Prime" another added.

"Da hell with this backwater colony, me and my family are moving to Chiron or Earth after this" the last a Private Marcel Farron commented before Olec ordered them to shut up.

They had entered a ruined building outside the defensive perimeter, for the look of it, the building may had been a bank, it was a solid concrete structure that had barely resisted the turian artillery yet it was still standing.

_Just like the ones who build it_, he thought.

The ruins provided cover against the enemy, as the six men group hide behind a broken concrete pillar dozens of those bird-like aliens appeared outside running in a remarkable organized way. The sound of heavy mass accelerator cannons could be heard on the distance, with the cacophony of metal plating shattering crossing their eardrums.

The tanks must be making their move, now is our turn. War is like chess, a piece moves then another, then another, the one who wins is the one who knows how to make sure his opponent moves their pieces at his command. Forcing an enemy to move like you want is the best guaranty of victory.

"Target in sight" reported the sharpshooter of the group, as he added the location of the Turian Communication Array to their HUDs.

"This will not take long" the female engineer Shen'Ji Lin reported as she took a sphere like object from her bag pack.

Oleg observed her as she held the black metal sphere on her left hand and began typing a few commands on her wrist data tool with the right hand; her level of professionalism in a combat situation was remarkable. She was a beautiful woman, Chinese in origin, with brown eyes, pale skin and obsidian black hair, probably around 26 years old maybe even born and raised in Shanxi; most of the guys from the squad were drooling for her.

For Oleg she was just another critical piece in the larger game, you needed to be careful to get too attach in combat situations, even if that is what makes you human.

After a few seconds the black sphere came to life and began floating into the target not before disappearing from sight with a cloaking camouflage, as soon as the hacking drone was a few meters from the alien computer it launched a miniaturized Hacking dart loaded with nanites into the objective without even breaking cloak.

An endless stream of code went through Ling's holo display in her left arm; no one could even follow the speed of the letters and numbers that passed through the wrist device screen.

"Ohh shit!" Lin exclaimed, adopting an expression of concern. "I have just discovered a priority message in the Turian channels; they are moving a massive coordinated attack on the perimeter now."

Soon the earth began to shake like a small earthquake, around them small rocks in the ground were jumping up and down with a growing rhythm as the ruins of the building were spitting dust over their heads from every side.

Outside an endless column of Turian APCs were riding down the deserted streets, with hundreds of their spiky soldiers marching beside them.

"Ferreti sent a message to command, warn them and I want an update on our exit strategy." He ordered Private Ferreti one of his soldiers, as everyone huddled together in an attempt to hide their presence.

An artillery salvo made the earth shake as explosions began to sprout around the Turian armored column, destroying a few vehicles and spreading chaos among their ranks. A map of retreat was transmitted to his HUD, showing a clear path avoiding the Turian forces in order to return to the closest sewer entrance.

"Follow me!" he ordered as he stood up and began sprinting while keeping his body crouched in order to prevent detection by the enemy outside.

After they abandoned the building, they made a quick run from one block to the other trying to use any cover at their disposal. Luck was not on their side, only one and a half blocks away from the sewer entrance a Turian sniper shoot Ferreti, the kinetic barrier flared but resisted saving Ferreti's life.

Taking cover behind a shattered car, they were barely able to dodge another shot, Lin's recon drone located the enemy sniper at a nearby rooftop; formulating a plan Petrovsky grabbed his grenade launcher from his back and ordered covering fire at the sniper.

Holding the large weapon with both hands and carefully aiming at the rooftop, he fired a single large caliber projectile that took down the sniper and the building's rooftop, but the Turian had already called reinforcements, the map in Oleg's HUD began showing several Turian soldiers and even four APCs converging on their position, ready to box them in.

"Any defensive position on this location" he asked the computer VI in charge of Shanxi's colonial Hub.

"One moment" the electronic female voice requested, and not a nano second later it answered. "There is a restaurant-bar building with only one primary entrance and solid structure in this block; marking it on your HUD Lieutenant Petrovsky."

As it has explained the position of the Bar was on the location pointed. The VI was not wrong, the Bar or restaurant with Chinese letters and a the shape of a fish on the signpost, looked rock solid and easily defendable with only one primary entrance leading to a wide open room with a two stories height roof, flanked by a mezzanine; also instead of windows leading outside, the walls were covered instead by a long row of aquariums filled with fish, preventing any expose breach the enemy could use to break into the building.

Oleg, Ferreti and Lin adopted a defensive position behind the bar, while the other two riflemen took position on upper mezzanine ready to kill whatever comes through the entrance.

Oleg studied the layout of the building seeing a secondary entrance on the other side.

_A back door, if we hold long enough we may be able to bug out by escaping through that emergency exit._

The team had also deployed the entire complement of three automatic mini-turrets, increasing their overall firepower.

Two turrets in the room with them and the third covering the back door in case of infiltration or escape.

A group of grenades were thrown into the room from the outside door, Oleg focused on the objects summoning his plasmid abilities and used his Telekinesis to throw the grenades back through the door, explosions yet no screams could be heard outside, it seems the Turians have learned from previous engagements.

A thunder shocked the bar as a Turian APC cannon blow up a hole in the outer wall breaking the plexiglass of the aquariums and throwing gallons of water and flapping fish into the room, another wall was destroyed on the other side opening a second hole.

Smoke grenades exploded blocking the view into the enemy positions outside the bar before rockets were fired into the room; Ferreti the team's only biotic enforcer summoned a barrier and protected Oleg and Lin as the building was shocked.

The other two upstairs were still unharmed.

Finally a dozen angry Turians barged in riffles in hand. The one surviving mini-turret opened fire first, with its short range ion-lasers frying the Turians hit by its automatic aim, leaving their metallic carapaces bright red and near flames on the ground.

Then the two riflemen upstairs fired taking down three Turians within seconds, yet as many more Turians continued to enter the aliens began to return fire.

Shen'Ji Ling's shotgun blew the head of a Turian only two meters away smearing the wall behind with a graffiti of blue blood, while Ferreti and Oleg emptied the magazines of the riffles on the aliens in front of them, in just a few seconds every Turian in the room was dead.

Oleg ordered the group to reload their weapons and prepare for the second wave, as he activated the communicator on his ear and call for reinforcements.

"Command this is fireteam 11, we are pin down by the aliens in a local restaurant outside the defensive perimeter, we need extraction as soon as possible" he practically shouted, as he looked back to the rest of his squad he watched the rest of the room.

_A sushi restaurant, jajaja nice place to face death; but if I am meeting the grim reaper today then two or three Turians shall come with me._

The aquariums had been broken, fish of every size lay on the floor flapping and fighting to breath, among the broken glass and the puddles of water…

An idea crossed his mind just I they heard the Turians moving outside

"Everyone listen up! When the Turians come in no one fires until I said so" he ordered to the confusion of his soldiers who were beginning to think, he was going to surrender. "Olivera have your electroshock prepared, and use it on the water puddles when I give you the mark."

A new group of Turians barged in, this time they all carry riot shields and they were making their own version of the roman testudo formation. Behind the shield two or more shooters were laying suppressive fire for the unit, preventing Oleg's group from shooting back.

Despite the raging fire of the mass accelerator weapons, Oleg managed to hear as the talon shape boots stepped on the water puddles, splashing water.

"OLIVERA NOW!" he ordered.

A massive current of electricity produced by Olivera's plasmid Electroshock, hit the water puddles in an instant. The Turians screamed and shouted in pain, feeling their muscles and nerves burning with pain. The effect of an electroshock was perhaps even much more painful for a Turian than a Human as the former metallic carapace was an electrical conductor that prevented their bodies from maintaining any kind of natural resistance.

The Turians fell down unconscious or dead, Oleg did not care.

"Fireteam 11! We are moving out!" he shouted as he stood up. "FOLLOW ME, ON THE DOUBLE!"

"Yes sir" they answered at unison.

The squad sprinted through the service hallway of the restaurant and crossed the exit into the outside.

Once again in the streets Turian patrols moved to surround them, but Shen'ji Lin used her combat drone to project a hologram of the team and sent it as a decoy in the opposite direction, as the team crouched down behind cover the Turian patrol swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker all together and began following the holographic squad as the real one slipped away towards the nearest sewer entrance.

They were half a block away when a Turian APC and its accompanying squads moved to cut their escape.

The heavy cannon of the APC nearly blew them up to kingdom come, but they managed to move quickly enough to avoid it, only losing their barriers and suffering minor lacerations. Just in time to take cover behind a broken burn down truck, the heavy plating of the truck making a metallic symphony as dozens of mass accelerator rounds impacted on the metal.

Just when Oleg and his team though they have reached the end of the line, two angels came to their rescue, more specifically two RF-81 Orca Gunships appeared on the sky and unleashed their payload of Jericho missiles over the Turians.

"Lieutenant Pretovsky we are moving to cover your escape back to the defensive perimeter, rendezvous with your reinforcements in this position." The Voice of Captain Lien sounded through the comms and a mark position appeared on his HUD.

With the gunships covering their escape the team ran as fast as they could but another group of three Turian APCs moved to ambush them.

Fortune was on their side once again as a heavy cannon destroyed one enemy APC, from one of the streets an enormous floating beast moved silently through the dust. A powerful war machine, an iron beast from hell: a Sandtiger Hover Tank.

Oleg Petrovsky had never seen the N1A5 Sandtiger Hover Tank in action but it was like seeing the reincarnation of the legendary Tiger Panzer German tank in a battlefield two centuries later: A hover tank designed on a sloped and compact frame built around a fixed gun turret with two small mini-ion laser turrets on both sides. The use of a Lutece levitation device and propulsion made the vehicle fast and maneuverable, while the Turian cannons could barely scratch its strong kinetic barrier and Rearden steel armor plating.

Another Turian APC was turn into several pieces of twisted and scorched metal by the fierce bite of the 90mm mass accelerator cannon of the Sandtiger, while the spiky Turian soldiers were taken down in seconds by the precise mini-turret ion laser cannons of the tank.

Fireteam 11 followed the tank as it clear their path, in just a few minutes of walking they have reached the human defensive perimeter.

As human firepower from the other side of the barricade covered them, the team crossed the defensive perimeter and went through the entrance.

The team released a long breath of relief, as they felt safe for the first time in what felt like hours. Soldiers opened way for Captain Lian and he approached them ready to hear their report.

Oleg and his teammates formed a line and saluted their superior officer, Oleg wanted to begin his report but it was Shen'ji Lin who beat him to the punch.

"Captain the Turians are preparing a massive attack on the perimeter, also there is talk of an elite team of blackwatch operatives attempting to infiltrate behind our lines" she quickly stated with rushed proficiency yet not showing any nervous or hesitation.

"We already know" the high ranking officer answered. "Our recon drones had detected a Turian squad attempting to infiltrate our perimeter, apparently they intent to secure or destroy the power station perhaps believing that it powers the Tachyon Shield. We have already dispatched Delta 01 Squad to meet them" he explained with a smile at that last item.

"The N7 squad?" Oleg asked. "I almost feel sorry for the Turians."

There was little time to continue talking, as a round of enemy artillery impacted on the ground next to them. The commander of the outpost shouted everyone to their positions and outside the barricade fire was exchange by the rifles and machine guns on both sides.

Oleg called on his team and changed his thermal clip, ready to join the rest of the defenders at the barricade, but he stopped for a second.

"Are you coming with us, my lady?" he asked the combat engineer.

"I wouldn't miss it Lieutenant" she answered with conviction, as she grabbed her shotgun. "Ready to fight" she said as she joined them.

-.

**2155.07.05**

**Industrial district of Quinhai, location of the central power plant**

"Lieutenant Abrudas how far are we from our objective?" General Desolas Arterius asked his second in command.

"Less than a hundred meters for the Power plant General." She answered.

Good, General Desolas Arterius was starting to really hate this planet and its inhabitants. That spirits dammed super barrier prevented the fleet from supporting the army on its operations as it was supposed to, the battle would have been over already if it wasn't for it.

He had to admit swallowing his pride that these humans were something else: they fought with discipline and valor almost matching his Turian brothers and sisters; their unusual powers made them similar to Asari commandos; their praetorian super soldiers were as strong and brutal as Krogans and their technological assets, be it drones, energy weapons or combat vehicles made them as slippery and cunning as the Salarians. It was like fighting various species working together instead of a single race.

Despite that, he knew deep inside that these humans were simple cowards, like the Asari or Salarians hiding behind their powers and technology instead of conducting war as it truly was supposed to be: a fight in which the strongest and fittest survives and triumphs over the rest.

Around him the streets of the human city were death quiet; not really a surprise as according to the infrared scanning (it was fortunate that most scans were not completely interfered by the Tachyon shield) most of the civilians had been moved to the central area of the city, as far away as possible from the battle, while according to the human prisoners the weakest of the civilians (women, elderly and children) had been transferred to underground refuges, yet most of the civilian population had been evacuated from the planet before the turians arrived.

The city itself constructed of solid materials and resilient structures was also easy to defend and very capable of providing any attacking forces a nightmare of maddening urban combat because of its narrow streets and defensive structures.

The tallest buildings were located in the center of the city, where an open plaza, an arcology and some kind of factory seemed to be the focal point of the colony's settlement. Yet in the outer circumference of the city buildings had been apparently organized in an uneven fashion, with an urban grid filled with huge avenues switching connections with secondary streets so narrow that even a single Turian platoon APC had troubles maneuvering, not to mention that a senseless location of tall buildings even in the outer perimeter made this city any sniper's wet dream.

-.

The squad moved through the street, switching from cover to cover in order to avoid possible detection.

Just when they had the shape of the human power plant building in sight a burst of riffle fire narrowly missed them but managed to weaken the barriers of one of his men. He looked to the street to gaze upon a human fireteam moving towards their position.

"Ambush take cover…" he was unable to even finishing the order when a rocket hit their position not injuring anyone but damaging their barriers as splinters of shrapnel hit in every direction, as a cloud of dust and smoke blockaded their peripheral vision.

The squad took a defensive position back to back behind a cover of intact human vehicles, receiving riffle fire from the opposite direction. Desolas's squad returned fire but with the smoke blocking them, neither side could aim correctly. Lieutenant Abrudas prepared a grenade yet she knew humans had biotics capable of grabbing them in midair and return them to the sender, lowering her body to the ground she instead made the grenade roll into the human position beneath the vehicles.

An explosion perhaps increased by the fuel in one of the vehicles terminated the shots coming from the human squad.

Desolas's team stood up and slowly walked to check on the enemy squad. A gory yet satisfying picture received them, two humans were clearly death with puddles of crimson red blood beneath their stiff bodies with their grey armors riddled with holes; another one was also death with a hole going through his helmed and blood coming from his head; the last one was alive yet barely, still moving and coughing but with one leg tore up from the explosion with a lot of crimson red blood erupting from the stump, alongside several lacerations on his chest.

Desolas approached to him weapon in hand in order to put the alien out of his misery but he stopped two meters from the fallen enemy, staring at him to watch as the human died slowly in pain. The rest of his squad moved to encircling him, weapons pointing to every direction in order to spot any incoming enemy; some of them looked at the wounded enemy soldier but did not hold their eyes on him for two long as it seems he was no longer a threat.

Surprising them however the survivor human moved his left arm towards his head clearly in pain and with a soft hiss he removed his helmed, revealing his brown color skin face before staring back at Desolas and his squad.

The look on his eyes was of pure defiance and burning hatred fueled by pain, yet as the rest of the squad paused to look at him the expression of the human soldier changed and his mouth flexed in something resembling an Asari smile.

"You…Turian… SCUM…none of you…shall leave…this planet aLivE" he spited the words with hatred through his blood filled breath. "You shall all…be slaughter…by CAPTAIN DEWITT!"

As if on cue the cries of roaring engines crossed their eardrums just as their eyes caught sight of a large human gunship lunging at them from the sky, like a bird of prey striking at its prey. The turian squad opened fire as the gunship opened her missile bays and fired two rockets towards them. They immediately leaped into cover as a curtain of smoke produced by the explosions of the rockets in the ground enveloped them.

The gunship slowed her descend and opened her rear hatch as six humanoid figures clad in pitch black armors leaped from the ship, all of them launching zip lines on mid-air at the nearby roof in order to guide their descend.

_A dropship throwing reinforcements, but these doesn't look like normal human soldiers._

The six human commandos on their zip line descended towards them at high speeds with their left hands operating the pulley on each of their zip-lines, they opened fire at Desolas's squad with their handguns; despite their speed of descend each shot coming from those pistols seemed to find a target, as their men were getting pick from above, kinetics barriers flaring with each impact.

Three of his men who had been too slow to jump into cover attempted to fire at the incoming enemies, yet one of the black armored humans jumped from his zip line deploying some kind of "omni buzz saw" lunging from the air at the closest turian soldier. The omni saw created an eruption of blue gore as it cut through the surprised turian's body like an industrial butcher gutting a farm animal.

_I have known of omni blades in close quarters but an omni buzz saw, seriously?_

The two remaining uncovered turians opened fire on the enemy but with a speed that would have left even a salarian baffled the human commando with the buzz saw, grabbed the downed turian corpse and used it as a body shield as he made quick fire with his handgun at the two soldiers.

The rest of the human commando squad jumped from the zip lines and opened fire on Desolas squad and the two turians out of covered whose barriers shattered and were killed in seconds.

Once in the ground one the black armor commandos summoned a biotic barrier while another deployed some kind of energy riot shied from his left hand. Taking cover behind their shielded members the rest of the enemy squad fired on Desolas position.

_I was right these are not normal human soldiers; the standard combat uniform of the garrison troops was a simple tactical armor, covered in urban camouflage pattern paint with simple combat helmets. These commandos armors are pitch black with white and red trim going from the legs and arms to the shoulders; they looked more detailed and customized than the normal human soldiers, as if they were composed of multiple layers of materials. Their helmets nevertheless were identical to those of regular human soldiers other than the different paintjob._

The leading human commando had a symbol on his breastplate, in white and red over the metallic black armor: N7

Desolas looked back at his squad and Lieutenant Abrudas they all looked shaken and nervous as he had never seen them before.

"It's them" a Turian soldier said; panic filling his voice as he madly returned fire with his rifle shaking on his talons. "The black demons!" he nearly shouted.

"Black demons!?" he said with apprehension to the scared turian. "Pull yourself together soldier, we are Turians! We fear nothing!" he ordered as he fired at the enemy, holding cover.

"General this is a team of Human elite commandos" Lieutenant Abrudas explained at his side. "Our prisoners have spoken of this team referring to them as the… N7 squad, their elite special forces according to them; a vast majority of the defiant threats coming from our prisoners are about them, and some of our soldiers had encountered them in the field, with catastrophic results."

She made a pause hesitating before speaking "we need to retreat, we are not reaching the Power plant with the N7s in front of us and more human reinforcements on their way."

"I am not backing down Lieutenant! We are Blackwatch operatives! These Human commandos are responsible for the death of countless turian soldiers! We have to take them down!" he ordered as he looked back to his surviving sixteen squad mates.

Formulating a plan he realized they had the numbers on their side; _they are six, we are seventeen with me; their weapons were superior so his squad needed to stick to cover and try to avoid their biotic and elemental powers._

"Group two right side!" he ordered. "Group three left side, flank them from both sides; group one with me, smoke curtain" he ordered deploying their smoke grenades.

With his men moving to surround the enemy, the enemy squad changed strategy: splintering into two groups of three, they broke into new covering positions.

-.

"Delta Squad, move in" Captain Dewitt ordered.

_So these are the turian Blackwatch Special Forces? I got to say; not impressed, _he though as he watched the turians trying to surround them.

"They are trying to flank us; Ahern and Ryder cover Astrid as she evacuates that WIA (wounded in action); Grissom and Silverman with me, we are cutting through their right flank" he ordered.

Dividing into two units of three, Dewitt's team moved to the right flank, firing at the entrenched turian soldiers at the side.

"Grissom, biotic charge, flank them" he ordered as Jon Grissom their vanguard summoned his biotics, his body covered by the blue aura of a mass effect field, right before he propelled himself with a biotic charge into the turian's flank, shotgun in hand.

The biotic charge and nova hit the turian squad like a close quarter stun grenade, just before Grissom's shotgun unleashed a storm of metal pellets into a still stunned turian soldier, the first shot broke the barriers, the second found its target on the turian's head and sprayed blue blood and chunks of shattered brains and skull over his partners.

Adding to their confusion Silverman the squad's biotic enforcer deployed a singularity that Dewitt combined with an Incinerate plasmid strike. The explosion of fire and dark matter hit the turian position, forcing the stunned and panicked turian soldiers to leave cover as they attempted to flee the flames surrounding them.

"They are vulnerable, fire at will" he ordered.

Dewitt's LB-42 Palash and Silverman's M-3 Avenger assault rifles cut through three of the four remaining standing turians, the last survivor was the only one who managed to shot back a single burst at Grissom, before the vanguard's shotgun silenced him for good.

"Enemies down" Grissom declared.

"Hold position, enemy HVT (high valuable target) on the other side; assume cover" he ordered.

"Wilco" Grissom and Silverman answered.

-.

Meanwhile on the other side of the street:

Corporal Astrid Hatlen the team's infiltrator applied bio medi gel on the crippled survivor's leg, while Lieutenant Alec Ryder and Corporal Tadius Ahern covered her.

At least ten angry turians were firing upon them, from the front and the left leaving them barely able to shot back, as the second in command of the Delta N7 squad, Lieutenant Alec Ryder took the lead.

"Ahern we need to provide a distraction so that Hatlen can bug out with the WIA (wounded in action)" he explained. "Deploy your drone turrets at their flank, it will draw some of their fire, then we charge forward" he ordered before switching his comm channels and contacting Hatlen who was tending to the injured soldier.

"Astrid, as soon as the turians are distracted grab the WIA and jump into the nearby rooftop then give us sniper cover" he ordered.

"Understood" Astrid the team's infiltrator answered.

Taking a deep breath, Alec Ryder signaled Ahern to deploy his drone mini turret.

Crouching into cover, Tadius Ahern released his tactical recon drone, a small floating robot loaded with cloaking tech; the tiny bot flew into the air engaging its cloak and providing a panoramic tactical view of the battlefield at Tadius's HUD.

The engineer immediately released his 'backpack' into the ground, two metal black spheres about 40 centimeters of diameter each, and through quick commands on his data wrist tool he marked two deployment positions behind the turian's cover.

The spheres were brought to life as they abandoned their position rolling at remarkable speeds like two bats out of hell. Alec snickered at the image as he thought about how puzzled the turians may have been at seeing the two living spheres moving towards them.

"Ja" Ahern snickered. "Watch those balls, Alec" he added.

_Eehhh that doesn't sound right, pal_, he though.

Rolling around the turian's entrench position, the spheres opened like two metal flowers on a sunny day, revealing their internal ion laser cannons while deploying spider like legs, rooting itself into the ground, all in a timeframe of less than a second.

The fulgurous cry of their laser ion cannons firing at the turians was the signal Ryder and Ahern were waiting for. Activating his tech armor and omni shield Alec jumped from cover and ran towards the turian position with Ahern right behind him, weapons in hand firing at the enemy while round after round of mass accelerator riffles bounced off his shield and armor.

As the two of them charged into the turian position; Corporal Astrid Hatlen allowed the injured soldier to hang into her back as she fired her grapple line to the roof at the nearby building.

It would have been difficult to hold the 200 pound minus one leg of the crippled soldier without the enhanced strength of her combat armor, but she was a praxian, a human born in a planet with twice the gravity of Earth not to mention she was on her physical prime like any good trained soldier; despite all of that her arm ached in pain for the strain of the feat as her grapple line propelled them into the roof.

Unleashing a biotic push at the turians firing madly at them, Alec leaped over the crates they were using as cover and fired at point blank range; next to him Ahern released an electro charge Overload that stunned all of them. In mere second the two of them sent the four turians into the afterlife.

A single angry turian charged at them ready to fire, when his head suddenly blew up in an explosion of blue blood and chunks of skull and brain matter.

"You are welcome" the soft voice of Astrid sounded through the comms, alongside the sound of metallic click of a recharging sniper rifle.

"The WIA is safe, I will provide covering fire from up here" she explained as she pressed her eye on the scope of her K-16 Akula sniper rifle, from the advantage point of the roof of the building.

"Delta team" Captain Dewitt's rusty voice called them. "We have the remaining turians surrounded; let's go finish the job, check your targets however, General Williams wants the commander alive" he ordered.

"GO!" he ordered, as they all changed their thermal clips and rushed into battle.

-.

Desolas Arterius cursed under his breath.

"General we need to retreat; we are down to eight men" Lieutenant Abrudas suggested.

"I refuse to be brought down by these bloody human animals!" he stated with hatred and desperation.

At that moment his focus switched to the roar of engines followed by the sight of two identical human gunships crossing the sky. The gunships made a quick turn and silently hovered staring at the entrenched turians.

"TAKE COVER" he ordered as rockets hit the ground around them.

They leaped from the compromised cover, but a few were caught in the blast.

Disoriented Desolas and his remaining squad were surrounded by the human black commandos.

Before Desolas and Abrudas could react, their three remaining squadmates were put in a biotic stasis field by female biotic enforcer.

One of the black demons charged against Abrudas who quickly aimed her pistol at the enemy, but the sentinel deployed his energy riot shield similar in appearance to an omni blade from his left arm. Two shots bounced at the shield without so much as slowing the charge of the black sentinel, when he was less than a meter from Abrudas the demon charged a biotic push and hit the female Turian officer. In the ground and stunned by the biotic attack Abrudas attempted to stand up, but the enemy sentinel jumped over her and quickly subdued her.

Meanwhile Desolas managed to take cover inside a local store where he found himself confronting the leader of the black demons. Desolas's prepared his rifle but the black clad commando leaped towards him at an incredible speed, energy buzz saw deployed in hand and lunging at Desolas.

Reacting by training and instinct which put survival over vengeance, Desolas attempted to block the strike with his rifle, a shower of sparks burst as the buzz saw began cutting through his riffle.

His weapon split into two pieces, as his enemy's buzz saw scratched his barriers and armor; the human commando then made a fast round house kick directly to Desolas's chest that threw him into the ground.

Before he could even get back on his feet, the black clad enemy commando draw a side arm and aimed right at his head.

"Name, rank, mission" the human ordered through a voice filtered by the helmet's speakers.

"Corporal…Artorius, Turian Blackwatch, our mission was to rescue the Turian prisoners" he lied speaking with venom on his voice.

"¿Corporal?" the human laughed. "Yeah right, your gear and markings are the ones of an officer, are they not General Arterius?" he stated; as Desolas only stared back.

"I am Captain Brandon Dewitt, Alliance's Special Forces; by the way everyone knows that your objective was the power plant, so don't lie to me" he made a pause. "You are coming with me, do not resist" he ordered as he moved back allowing Desolas to stood up.

Desolas Arterius was exhausted but he was not ready to give up. He activated the omni blade on his arm and attempted to take the head of the enemy captain, but the black clad soldier blocked his strike with his weapon's arm, before throwing a powerful electroshock at General Arterius from his left hand.

A current of energy crossed Desolas's body with sheering pain, as his body and mind finally gave up, and he passed out.

As blackness clouded his mind, his enemy opened his helmet, revealing his face and stared back at Desolas with his bright green eyes.

-.

"General Williams this is Delta Squad, the Turian infiltration squad has been dealt with; we also have a Turian General, a lieutenant and three privates as EPW (enemy prisoner of war)" Captain Brandon Dewitt informed through the comms.

"A general?! Remarkable work Captain" George Williams answered.

"How was the assault on the perimeter? Wounded, KIAs?" he asked.

"As expected" the general released a heavy sight. "The Turians hit us with everything they had and we in turn returned the favor in kind. We lost 863 soldiers we also have 217 civilians' dead or injured by Turian long range artillery, also they breached the barricade on sector 5 so we will have to reassemble the perimeter next to the river crossing" he explained with sadness.

"The Turians however sustained tremendous casualties, and the moral of our soldiers is high, we just received communication from High-Com; the Fifth and Sixth fleet are gathering with some of the eleventh fleet at Star Base Theta" the General explained in a more hopeful tone.

"So it won't be long before cavalry arrives" he stated.

"Exactly, also a new covert operation team has been deployed from the SSV Cajamarca a stealth frigate, to assist us; while the Cajamarca will keep an eye on the turian fleet in order to provide Intel for the upcoming counterattack; I can't say much about this Task Force Sigma but Admiral Comstock has vouch for them" the General added.

"If Admiral Elizabeth Comstock stands for them, that is enough for me, I have served in the Tesla her flagship; she is one hell of a commander" he explained.

"Is enough for me as well, let's see what this team of 'specialists' can do, for now secure the prisoners Captain Dewitt I am sending dropships and medevacs to your position" the General informed.

"Copy that, sir" he answered.

"Roger, command out" the General answered before cutting transmission.

-.

After a couple of minutes three dropships arrived in order to extract the team and its prisoners; the injured soldier they had rescued alongside the bodies of those killed by the turian squad were transferred by the first dropship to the field hospital inside the inner perimeter of Quinhai.

"Captain" his second in command Lieutenant Alec Ryder called him. "The WIA has been transported to the hospital" he informed him.

"Your number one fan is going to be okay Captain" Corporal Tadius Ahern added. "Even though he is going to need a new prosthetic leg, did you see how he spoke about you to those Turians?" Tadius added with a tone of both ironic humor and respect.

"YOU SHALL ALL BE SLAUGHTER BY CAPTAIN DEWITT" Caroline Silverman joked, imitating a deep male voice.

"ENOUGH!" Sergeant Jon Grissom the squad's third in command and Slayer Vanguard shouted silencing the two jokers. "We have just lost three fellow soldiers thanks to those Turians bastards and that poor man almost lost his life" he declared.

"He is a soldier like us, we all signed up for this job" Alec Ryder commented. "And this is a war, casualties are tragic but sometimes they are unavoidable" he added with some level of sadness.

"Well said" sentenced Astrid Hatlen their infiltrator and sniper. "We may lose many more, in the next battle" she sorely stated.

Captain Dewitt nodded._ I hope the fleet comes soon, or more young men like that poor soldier are going to die._

-.

**2155.07.07**

**Aralakh System, Krogan DMZ**

**SUS Yhusal, Salarian frigate, STG recon team**

STG encrypted message:

From: SUS Yhusal

To: Councilor Eshael

[][][[[[[[[[][]]]]]]][[[][[][[[][[[[[[][[

[[]]]]]]]]]]]][[]]]]]][[[]]][[[]][[]]]][] 

Decrypting message:

Observations of latest turian ship deployments and supply lines, suggest massive military operation in the proximity of the Narraste Cluster, no signs of pirate or smuggler activity reported in this part of space however.

Turian 10° fleet under admiral Justinius unaccounted for, same conclusion for Admiral Varkus 2° DMZ patrol fleet; based on the scale and activity of the turian supply ships, suggest deployment of at least two turian legions perhaps three.

Requesting an update on orders and procedures as indications suggest this operation may have not been sanctioned by Citadel Council's authority.

-.

**2155.07.07**

**Arriving through relay FTL to the Theta Nebula on the other side of the Shanxi-Theta Relay**

**HWS Verkan, Recon frigate varren pack**

"Relay transition imminent" the helmsman of the Verkan informed her captain.

"Understood, weapons and barriers stand by" Captain Keranus ordered to the ship and the rest of the squad. "I want to be ready for anything" he added.

_I can't believe this, we should not be here,_ he though. _Its bad enough we crossed an uncharted relay invading another species space, now we are trespassing into their inner territory; all behind the Council's back._

He understood why Admiral Justinius had sent them, the human fleet they had engaged on system 483-72 in the Dhurker cluster; had inflicted tremendous casualties on them, they needed to know if they had retreated into the neighboring system as to check if the Admiral was right and that had been the bulk of their fleet so most of the human forces had been routed or they had been only a vanguard and they were to expect an incoming human counterattack.

"Exiting FTL in 4,3,2…1" the helmsman informed, as the screen view of the faster than light transition, switched to normal space.

The four frigate squad exited FTL: the Verkan, Cenestes, Julinos and Pletaro arriving at the unknown system.

"Scanning" the scan officer informed.

"One regular star system, medium size yellow star; one garden world charted" the ship's VI informed, as the holographic display detailing the system appeared on the middle of the bridge.

"WARNING, massive energy signature detected" the VI added. "Orbit of garden world's moon, recommend caution" the VI warned.

"Take us there, let's see what is out there" he ordered, the crew didn't look convinced but they followed the order as good turians do.

At that moment a tight beam communication came from the Cenestes, the sharp voice of the ship's captain on the comms.

"Cenestes to Verkan, I recommend immediate retreat in order to request reinforcements, my scans have confirmed that this planet contains several cities and heavy industrialization; a population rounding on the dozens of million perhaps, not enough to be the human homeworld but it's certainly a colony larger than Shanxi" the Cenestes captain explained.

Keranus thought about that, but he knew he had lost his chance to retreat when his ship's VI send an alert through the ship, and the holographic display changed to the view of a huge human armada coming from behind the side of the garden world's moon.

"Spirits look at the size of that fleet" the scan officer of the Verkan's bridge declared.

Captain Keranus felt his mouth dry upon laying eyes at the human fleet assembled around a small garden world.

To be fair the word huge was actually an understatement upon laying eyes on the VI's readings on enemy ships count; nearly 1300 ships: 400 frigates, 400 cruisers, 144 heavy cruisers, 16 mobile star bases, 5 dreadnoughts (of the same class as Adm. Su Kwon's bannership) and 3 (previously unknown) super dreadnoughts: each of them measuring over 1800 meters long.

_Spirits, those ships are twice the length of our own dreadnoughts; even the Destiny Ascension would look small in comparison._

"Captain a squad of enemy frigates is moving to our position, the enemy knows we are here" the scan officer nervously stated.

Not a second later a mass accelerator round coming from one of the enemy dreadnoughts crossed the distance of thousands of miles in mere seconds, before shattering the Julinos with a single shot.

"TAKE US BACK TO THE RELAY, NOW" Captain Keranus ordered to his bridge crew and squadron.

_Spirits be damned, we need to flee._

"Captain enemy ships had just performed a short range FTL jump right next to the relay; they are attempting to block our escape" the scan officer declared with barely disguised panic.

"Take us through that relay, no matter what" he ordered, they had hundreds of enemy frigates on their heels and dozens of ships blocking their only means of escape.

_We need to warn Adm. Justinius fleet, if that fleet crosses the relay they will obliterate our forces._

_Dozens of terran cruisers and frigates were blocking their intended path to the relay, there was no way they could break through that fleet with only three frigates._

_On the other side of that relay, there are hundreds of thousands of turian soldiers, what is the crew of three frigates against that._

He activated the intership comms and addressed the entire squad.

"Squadron we need to warn our fleet no matter the cost, prepare to engage FTL towards the coordinates of the relay and shut down the inertial dampeners" the crew of the bridge was frozen in place understanding immediately what that last order meant for all of them.

"Program an FTL course through the human formation, and broadcast our logs through the comms" he ordered the helmsman who returned the gaze and nodded.

"Verkan this is the Cenestes, we are ready" the captain of the Cenestes addressed them in a tone of regret.

"Captain we are turians, we stand with you" the Pletaro's captain informed him.

He looked at his crew, they all nodded understanding what was going to happen, they were good turians, they followed orders and they were taught to understand the meaning of sacrifice.

"FTL course programed Captain through the enemy formation and through the relay" the helmsman informed him.

"Engage!" Captain Keranus said, giving the last order of his life.

In an instant as the three ships entered FTL their crews were reduced to pulverized biomass by the force of the acceleration; by shutting down the inertial dampeners which hold the 'bubble of inertia' within the ship the frigates had been able to perform the insane maneuvers necessary to break through the enemy formation and connect to the relay without breaking off normal FTL.

Performing the highly dangerous maneuver, the three empty hulls were catapulted thousands of light years towards the Shanxi system, with a clear warning destined to their fleet.

Little did they know, their sacrifices had been of little help to their forces, nothing on the known galaxy could have stopped the fury of the human's incoming retribution.

-.

**CODEX:**

**Axial Colony City:** The basic layout for every standard human colony city since the year 2086, the funding of a colony world is led by the construction of a colony HUB in the area of the planet surveyed and classified to be the richest and easy to exploit of the planet.

An orbital station is placed in geostationary orbit over the main settlement; connecting the space station and the colony is the main Axial Colony Hub which holds an enormous Rift portal linked to another rift portal on the station; this system represents a much cheaper method of planet to orbit transportations than the construction of massive space elevator or the constant transport between the planet and orbit. Colonies can be develop at an impressive rate by transporting materials and supplies back and forth through the portals of the station and colony, while resources extracted can be refined and sent into space by the portal with ease ensuring the minerals, eezo or resources provided by the colony are quickly sent to the rest of the Alliance.

The axial city layout is centered on a focal area where one or more arcologies are constructed, near the main arcology lays the Colony Hubs which contains the rift portal linking the city with its orbiting space station alongside several warehouses tasked with storing the massive amounts of cargo transported to and from orbit. Finally there is the construction yard which holds n heavy industrial fabricator and the main foundries of the colony, so that resources can be efficiently process and use in further constructions.

Aware of the dangers and uncertainties of colonizing outer space and maintaining the dominion of their colonies, the Alliance's layout for an Axial City is also meant to keep the inhabitants of the colony as safe as possible.

An immense circular structure similar to a particle collider alongside the Neutron antimatter reactor that powers the rift gate are built underground around the inner core of the city capable of powering an immense barrier of negative energy known as the tachyon shield, protecting the colony from bombardment or a meteor shower.

Also in case of an emergency, being an attack, invasion or natural disaster, the axial cities are equipped with underground shelters, located in strategic locations of the city like beneath the Flakturm defensive towers, within the inner perimeter. As a planet colony grows in population so does the number of axial cities which are established across the planet with the intention of supplying the citizens of the planet with protection as well as ensuring a rapid economic development and viability of the colony.

-.

**Terran Alliance's defensive doctrine – Endurance Strategy:** The use of the Tachyon shield on the axial cities has granted the Terran Alliance the considerable advantage of being able to defend their colonies even while lacking orbital supremacy.

The defenders of the colony are tasked with protecting the city as long as they can while bleeding the attacking force dry as well as finding information about the enemy in preparation for an eventual counterattack by Alliance's battle groups situated on strategic mass relays or Rift gate Hubs.

**Colonial Guard and Colonial Militia:** The colonial guard is the basic army unit for all Terran colonies, the garrison tasked with protecting the colony is aid by drones, AI support, Special Forces and armored divisions, assigned there depending on the size of the colony and its population.

The colonial militia is an auxiliary support corps formed by members of the colony who fulfilled at least three years of training and service, many of them possessed some minimum training and plasmid enhanced powers. The colonial militia also encompasses the colony's basic civilian security and emergency services: police, firefighters, SWAT units, etc.

-.

**Flakturm Flak defensive tower:** Inspired by a set of defensive towers built by the Germans during World War II, the Flakturm type defensive towers are one of the most efficient fixed defensive emplacements ever build by the Alliance Engineering Corps.

The Flakturn is a square construction that stands 200 X 200 meters wide and 150 meters tall; made of solid hyper reinforced concrete, covered with titanium plates, minimal tachyon shielding and a solid structure making the building nearly impervious to anything other than starships type weaponry and mass accelerator cannons.

The roof of the facility is equipped with four mounted heavy mass accelerator cannons, as well as sixteen long range ion laser cannons, the formers tasked with destroying ground forces (primarily armored vehicles) and the lasts with obliterating any enemy aircraft in their range of fire and detection.

Each tower holds an underground shelter for civilians and military personal equipped with air filtration and waste disposal systems as well as loaded with water and supplies capable of lasting for months, depending on the amount of people taking shelter inside.

During the assault on Quinhai, capital of Shanxi the turians sustained tremendous casualties trying to attack the defensive perimeter in proximity to the three Flakturnm towers of Quinhai; with the city's tachyon shield preventing orbital bombardment, the turian forces were unable to make any significant damage on the defensive structures. They resorted instead to avoid them all together, focusing their attacks on areas of the perimeter outside the optimal range and line of sight of the towers.

**Multi vector drone swarm 'Iron Flock':** One of the newest and most controversial weapons of the Alliance's Land Force Command the Iron Flock is a swarm of DR-9 Warden drones developed by Porter Singularities and the Cyberline Corporation, each of them equipped with light ion laser cannons and minimal barriers. The drones make use of mass effects fields to hover and move with impressive efficiency, coordinated by the advanced AI of a carrier or Colony HUB.

The Iron Flock is truly sight to behold for any ground based force and a terrifying cloud of nightmare and dead for an enemy of mankind. Also through their numbers and processing power the drone swarm is capable of emitting a high frequency electronic interference signal that can overwhelm an enemy's communications, making the Iron Flock an ideal weapon for planetside invasions or ground base defense.

**RF-81 Orca gunship:** A short range gunship (as it does not contain an FTL drive) mostly used for ground based engagements, as a fighter, a high-altitude bomber, or even a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane that can engage enemy craft around a planet or a space station.

Despite its moderate size; of only twelve meters long, the Orca contains an impressive array of weapons: two sets of two forward-facing missile bays over each wing, normally armed with Inferno PKRs (Precision Kill Rockets), and a pair of belly-mounted M250 mass-accelerator auto cannons. As well as a single Ion laser heavy cannon designed to take out vehicles, ships and overwhelm even starship's type kinetic barriers.

The Orca houses an element zero core which lightens the engines with a mass effect field, allowing it to take off vertically and hover in place using minimum fuel. This also gives it a far greater range and speed than the helicopters and jump-jet aircraft that once filled its niche on the battlefield.

Standard defenses include heavy armor plating and kinetic barriers, some prototype models are even equipped with rearden armor plating or tachyon portable shielding; but those models were considered far too costly to be mass produced.

-.

**M-3 Avenger (Alliance standard issued assault rifle):** Standard assault rifle used by the Alliance Marine's Corps and the Terran Colonial Guard, designed and produced by the Hahne-Kedar corporation one of the main suppliers for the Alliance military industrial complex. The M-3 Avenger is a simple but reliable mass accelerator rifle as well as one of the first models to make use of advanced coolant systems to avoid overheating by loading the accumulated heat into thermal clips which could be ejected at any given time.

**K-16 Akula (Sniper rifle):** A magnetic acceleration gauss riffle, the Akula can fire rounds of tungsten and rearden steel in order to pierce through heavy armors and kinetic barriers. The use of mass effect fields prevents the recoil of the weapon from injuring the user or missing its target.

**LB-42 Palash (Special Forces assault rifle):** Used by Special Forces the Palash is a state of the art assault rifle with a larger set of modular personalization capabilities, like the use of a suppressor or the addition of a grenade launcher. It holds a larger rate of fire by containing a more efficient yet expensive coolant system, while also making use of magnetic acceleration gauss technology to give its rounds a heavier impact.

-.

**The size of the garrisons at Alliance colonies protected by the Terran Colonial Guard is proportional to the size of the colony:**

**-Station Colony 20,000:** The garrison force for these colonies are Platoons (256 soldiers). A Lieutenant is the CO

**-Station Colony 20,000-100,000:** The garrison force for these colonies are Companies (1,024 soldiers). A Captain is the CO

**-Station Colony 100,000-200,000:** The garrison force for these colonies are Cohorts (3,072 soldiers). A Major is the CO

**-Station Colony 200,000:** The garrison force for these colonies are Battalions (6,144 soldiers). A Lieutenant Colonel is the CO

**-Arcturus Station:** Arcturus is garrisoned by a Regiment (18,432 soldiers). A Colonel is the CO

**-Dome Colony 1 Million: **The garrison force for these colonies are Brigades (55,296 soldiers). A Brigadier General is the CO

**-Dome Colony 1-4+ Million:** The garrison force for these colonies are Divisions (165,888 soldiers). A Lieutenant General is the CO. Each additional domed city gets a brigade garrison until it passes the 1 million mark, where it's garrison is upgrade to a division.

**-Shirt Sleeve Colony 4 Million:** The garrison force for these colonies are Divisions (165,888 soldiers). A Lieutenant General is the CO

**-Shirt Sleeve Colony 4 Million – 80 Million:** The garrison force for these colonies are Corps (497,664 soldiers). A Captain General is the CO

**-Shirt Sleeve Colony 80 Million or more:** The garrison force for these colonies are 1 Corps for each city and area of 40 million in habitants. An army consists of 3-5 corps, a General is the CO

-.

**Praetorians:** Cybernetically and genetically enhanced soldiers equipped with state of the art exo suits.

**-Bouncer:** Designed for mining and heavy duty zero G work; the Bouncer is equipped with a massive drill and tech multi-tool. The exo-suit focuses around an increase of strength and speed; sustained by an array of artificial muscles, jet-thrusters and nano-induced stim-pack on the user. Size: 2,5 meters tall.

**-Rosie:** Designed for repair operations in zero G, the Rosie is also capable of serving as a heavy infantry unit in combat, changing its heavy tools to weapons, and updating its armor plating and barriers. Size: 2,2 meters tall.

**-Rumbler:** A praetorian exo-suit, exclusively designed for combat, equipped with an RPG launcher, mass accelerator mini cannons while its able to deploy mini-turrets. Size: 2,2 meters tall.

**-Rhino:** Heavy Praetorian; more a mech than an exo-suit, the Rhino makes honor to its name as a heavy assault mech, designed to be deployed in seconds and break through enemy defenses with its overwhelming firepower and speed. The Rhino is equipped with a miniature mass effect core and jet-thrusters that allow it to move like demon while having the armor plate and firepower of a tank. Size: 4,5 meters tall.

**Sand Tiger Hover Tank:** The main battle tank of the Alliance's Land force command, the Sand Tiger is a fast and maneuverable vehicle capable of traversing any terrain. Equipped with a Lutece anti gravitation device the Sand Tiger is capable of floating over hostile environments like water or molten magma, as well as "climbing" through nearly vertical mountain ranges without trouble. Approximately 7 meters in length and 4 meters width it is also equipped with a thick Rearden steel armor and top of the line kinetic barriers. The Sand Tiger combines the best qualities of the long discontinued Hammerhead hover tank and Mako troop transport.

The Sand Tiger is an extremely versatile battle tank capable of being deployed from frigates or corvettes into the ground without need for risky landing operations; trusting its internal mass effect core and Lutece levitation device to allow it to descend with security from even orbital drops.

The Sand Tiger was first deployed in real combat during the battle of Shanxi, were its speed and durability made it a formidable foe against the Turian armored units.

A Turian Lieutenant once expressed his opinion of the Sand Tiger: "That tank decimated my platoon and we barely scratched its paint, we weren't sure if we were going to run out of troops before that monster run out of ammo."

-.

**Delta 01 Team (Special Forces Unit):** N7 team deployed in Shanxi after the first engagement with the Turian fleet of Admiral Varkus. They were led by Captain Brandon Dewitt a veteran of Operation "battering ram" against an extremist terrorist cell of the GHI who received the rank of N7 for surviving a high risk operation to capture the GHI cell leader.

The deployment and track record of the Delta Squad on Shanxi would later help define the Alliance's Special Forces doctrine of specialists' classes and enhanced warfare tactics through training on enhanced combat, biotics, plasmids and tech.

-Captain Brandon Dewitt – Skirmisher (combat + plasmids)

-Lieutenant Alec Ryder – Sentinel (tech + biotics)

-Sergeant Jon Grissom – Shock trooper (combat + biotics)

-Corporal Caroline Silverman – Biotic enforcer (biotics)

-Corporal Tadius Aherm – Engineer (tech)

-Corporal Astrid Hatlen – Infiltrator (combat + tech)

-.

**Zama class Stealth Reconnaissance Frigate: **A prototype stealth frigate, the ship stands 180 meters long with a compliment of 60 crewmen. The ship is task with surveying an enemy occupied territory for an eventual attack by ally forces or to deploy covert units behind enemy lines.

The SSV Cajamarca a Zama SR class frigate was deployed in the Fujian-Alpha System during the turian invasion of Shanxi, deploying a covert operations team and reporting the movements of the turian fleet to Alliance's Fleet Command.

-.

**NOTE: In mass effect cannon thermal clips were first developed by the geth and then adapted by other races of the galaxy; in this AU humans had that technology already and applied it to their weapons.**

**As always: I do not own Mass Effect nor Bioshock**


	10. Chapter 9: Last man standing

**Chapter 9: ****Last man standing**

_Astra inclinant, sed non obligant_

"The stars incline us, they do not bind us"

-.

**Author's notes:**

It took me some time to return to write, my laptop is on technical service so I was force to use my other computer. As in regards to my use of elements and ideas from the fanfic: **the Fourth Council race **I did 'copy-paste' several codex ideas yet I did not copy the first contact encounter from that story; the First contact war has been explored and rewritten an impressive number of times through an endless number of stories by the fandom, the encounter on my story was also inspired by the fanfics **Mass effect: a new past** and **Mass Effect: the iron heart of man**.

As for some of my haters and followers sending me critics and requests, I thank you for your attention and time in equal measure; I hope this story continues to grow and improves with each chapter, my Terran Alliance may not be perfect in every sense but I hope it makes an interesting faction for you all to explore within the confines of your imagination.

With Star Wars Episode 9 coming out I cannot hope to feel nothing other than a depth sense of betrayal at the disastrous way disney has perverted the universe of George Lucas by preventing it from reaching a new level of maturity and philosophical deepness that needed in order to grow; as it achieved in the series the Clone Wars and Rebels. Personally I blame the Me Too movement and the politically correct tendencies of this era that interpret everything as an aggression; honestly I cannot stand the SJWs.

In this conflicted era as Game of Thrones or the MCU has illustrated very well there is good and evil, light and darkness but they are not as clear as one would expect: the road of hell is paved with good intentions, a greater good can become a source of great suffering, the search for equality and rights sometimes hides beneath the desire for power and privileges, and every villain or monster is a hero in its own mind.

I want to show my Terran Alliance and its inhabitants as a more ambiguous player and 'grey' faction; I don't want humans declaring exterminatus on the turians (even though I know many of you will be roasting for it) or helping others at great risk and cost for themselves without asking anything on return. The main puppet masters behind the Alliance have already being reveal in Chapter 7 but the extent of their agendas will hopefully surprise many of you.

UPDATE: I have renewed my writing of my other fanfic: A game of wolves and bats; I shall not abandon this story nevertheless; I hope this chapter serves as a reminder of that.

-.

**TIME UNKNOWN**

_The siege of Quinhai Shanxi's capital was one of the bloodiest engagements in galactic history since the end of the Krogan Rebellions a thousand years before. From day 1 it stood clear as water that this was not another peacekeeping operation against pirates or a quick strike to deal with a rogue nation, a feeling of unease plagued each of us._

_We were told we were fighting a race of primitive upstarts perhaps barely a few decades off their homeworld yet we encountered instead ruthless alien soldiers armed with weapons, tactics and powers of a caliber and nature unknown to our experience. Our commanders continuously underestimated the capabilities of our new found enemy which only led to further casualties in our side, that city protected by that red dome like barrier became the tomb of thousands of our brother and sisters._

_The last stages of the siege were the worst, with an imminent assault by a massive human fleet ready to retake the system getting closer and closer each day our commanders resorted to extreme measures to secure victory for the Hierarchy... or more accurately to save face with the council and the galactic leadership: our ships opened fire on the city with their main cannons, a direct breach of Citadel Accords, that super kinetic barrier protecting the city sustained most of the impacts but some managed to get through, destroying or damaging human entrenched positions and allowing our forces to regain the initiative._

_Also the change of tactics with the blackwatch taking command of most operations surely stirred things up, for two days it seemed like the tide had turned in our favor but the humans only kept fighting harder and harder filled with resolve, understandably considering that their fleet was only a mass relay away. _

_The human garrison and militia made us bleed for every square meter we took; I saw a fellow turian private named Raena from whom I felt a slight affection die when a human sniper shot her on the chest. I saw half of my platoon being crush under rubble when the humans used demolition charges to blow an entire building on our heads. I saw my best friend Drunnos being burned alive by one of those humans with fire powers; at the end of the siege I looked around my companions and I could not find a single familiar face, I have lost all my friends and squad mates on that operation, and that feeling of loneliness has stood with me ever since._

_In the end we never got even half way to the center of the city and the inner perimeter; when the full might of the human fleets arrived on the system, our ships were obliterated within minutes. We should have known it was over._

_All that we had achieved with our blood and sacrifice was waking a sleeping thrasher maw and filling it with an overwhelming hunger for vengeance._

-.

(Extract from the interview of Private Agron Lerrenus, turian Eight Legion on the Battle for Shanxi, Hierarchy's military history Codex)

-.

**2155.07.08**

**HWS Unification; near the Shanxi-Theta Relay - Bridge**

**Fujian-Alpha System; Lambda Expanse**

After the return of the surviving yet empty frigates from the squadron under the command of Captain Keranus sent to explore the other side of the Shanxi-Theta relay, the entirety of the turian fleet and army senior officers gathered on the Unification's bridge either in person or through holograms.

The sacrifice of Captain Keranus and the crews of his ships would not be in vain, Superior Admiral Justinius had already ordered the bulk of the fleet to assume defensive positions in proximity of the Shanxi-Theta relay; intending to prepare the same trap that Admiral Varkus had foolishly felt into several weeks ago.

He had divided his fleet into three separate flotillas located behind, above and below the relay in order to better target the human ships as soon as they would leave the relay's FTL field, firing on the enemy warships sterns, thrusters and vulnerable subsystems. Their position gave them an advantage yet there was no denying they were running out of time, they needed to take the planet and deal with the human navy at once before the Council could get wind of all of this.

"I will not be part of this!" Admiral Victus declared to the rest of the room, his fellow officers seemed to share his doubts.

Superior Adm. Justinius's face remained stubborn and hard, Admiral Survan looked to be hesitant to continue with this cluster fuck operation but kept her opinions to herself.

"We have no other choice, we need to take that city, secure this system and call reinforcements to better deal with the human fleet" the superior admiral explained before turning to the army commanders.

"General Orinia with General Arterius's capture, you are the sole senior officer for all ground operations in this system" he began. "It is your decision, what do you propose?" he asked the female general.

In the Turian Hierarchy, the army was the senior branch of service as the turian military apparatus has been designed under the objective of defending their few dextro based colony worlds that sustained their population. Also as the Turian Hierarchy was in possession of the largest military fleet in the galaxy and they had not encountered any real opposition since the krogan rebellions, the fleet has been mostly relegated to peace keeping operations or support for the ground forces. As the highest ranking officer of the ground forces and commander of the 8º Legion it was General Orinia the one who had the final word on the invasion of Shanxi.

"After facing all other alternatives I choose the one that may avoid the death of many more good soldiers: we must break this super barrier and shatter the human defensive perimeter; we have to use our mass accelerator cannons on the city" she stated with uncertainty.

A few seconds of silence passed before she continued. "I know bombardment with mass accelerator weapons of a garden world is a breach of one of the most important mandates of the Citadel Council; we will use our frigates cannons and avoid using the dreadnought's main weapons as to prevent heavy environmental damage. I will assume full responsibility for this and accept the Council's judgment afterwards" she declared.

"Thank you General, for what is worth I agree and appreciate your decision" Superior Adm. Justinius declared nodding at General Orinia, then he flexed his mandibles in a turian smile. "By initiating orbital bombardment over the colony we may recover the initiative but we need to increase our preasure over the human garrison if we are to win; with General Arterious captured his blackwatch units are now yours to command General" he added.

"We will make good use of them admiral" Coronel Lukros, Orinia's second in command declared.

-.

**A few hours later**

"Admiral we have six frigates in geostationary orbitalposition over the colony city" a bridge officer informed Admiral Justinius. "Ready to fire on your command" he added.

"Use secondary canons, if that doesn't work on the super barrier use your axial guns" he ordered.

At his word, the six frigates opened fire on the city aiming at the center of the defensive perimeter where the arcologies and colony's hub rested. The mass accelerator rounds flying at nearly light speeds, made impact with the barrier in less than an instant.

The tachyon shield flaring with each impact revealing its dome like shape over the city, each impact of the guns causing a wavelength of energy through the energy dome similar to the ripples in a pond after throwing a rock into the water.

"Keep on the volley until the guns reach level of overheating and energy discharge, if there is no sign of alterations in the barrier switch to your main guns" he ordered through the comms.

_Now there is no turning back, one way or another I have crossed the line, when the Council knows about this, my career will be over, but I will have this last victory against these cursed ignorant humans even if it's the last thing I will ever do._

-.

**2155.07.08**

**Quinhai, Shanxi**

**General Williams's Headquarters**

In the command room of General Williams an holographic table showed the city of Quinhai protected by the tachyon shield, the dome like barrier blinked with every impact fired by the enemy ships in orbit. The city below the barrier was colored in blue for the center behind the perimeter under Alliance control; red for the enemy positions and bright yellow for the key defensive positions of the garrison.

The tachyon shield looked unbending and unbreakable but George Williams knew otherwise.

"Under continued bombardment I calculate shield collapse within 22 hours" Cassandra the colony's AI, reported.

"Any way to increase the power or extend the timeline of the shield's collapse?" he requested.

"We can switch the negative energy distribution, focus the shield on the center of the city: protecting the colony Hub, foundries and shield emitter; but in order to refocus the tachyon shield we will have to lower the frequency on the outer perimeter, this will allow the enemy mass accelerator rounds to pierce through" the AI explained. "I can make some adjustments and make quick reroutes to the critical positions, like the flak towers; making random... 'juggles' through the shield" she explained.

"We cannot protect the entirety of the city but we can protect our most important positions, from the orbital bombardment; that will make the turians focus fire on them however; so I will write a random energy distribution algorithm to lower the shield in several areas of the grid in order to divert power to the critical areas of the grid" she explained.

General Williams looked at the holographic table; feeling conflicted yet in the end nodded and gave his authorization.

"Evacuate the weakest of the civilians to the main shelter under the Colony Hub and order the militia to retreat back to the perimeter" he ordered.

_It's time to see what this Commander Harper and his team can do; let's see what kind of reinforcements Admiral Comstock sent._

-.

**2155.07.10**

**Quinhai, Shanxi**

**Streets close to Flakturm Tower 2**

"This is Sargent Diaz of fireteam 15!... We are pin down by turian fire, we need immediate assistance!" the frenetic voice of the colonial guard Sargent sounded through the comms.

"Sargent Diaz this is TF Sigma we are moving to support you" Commander Jack Harper answered, as his squad sprinted towards Diaz's position.

Making some quick tactical decisions he divided his squad into four fireteams in order to flank the enemy and provide cover for fireteam 15. The colony's AI was working overtime to coordinate all the squads and units in Quinhai against the enemy.

These new attacks have certainly changed the playground, the turians had step up their game with more aggressive tactics coordinating their ground forces with the orbital strikes, this was no longer a siege; this was a battle of attrition in which the victor was the one to survive at the end.

In the shattered ruins of a former commercial district, the last remaining fireteam of Epsilon Squad was pin down by a turian platoon. Releasing his recon drone he could see the holographic representation of the building with the infrared sensor shapes of red for enemies and green for friendlies; the numeric difference was considerable but for what he could glimpse Epsilon Squad has fought with everything they got, all turian vehicles and combat mechs were destroyed; it was only infantry left.

"Task Force Sigma move out, fireteams standing by" he ordered. "Sigma 1, ready" he signaled.

"Sigma 2, ready" the voice of Eva Core said through the comms.

"Sigma 3, ready" the raspy voice of Zaeed Massani said.

"Sigma 4 ready" Camile Dumas finally said.

"Move now" he ordered.

The teams launched their attacks in perfect coordination, Sigma 2 and 4 lead the charge against a turian unit; using biotics and plasmids attacks to break their barriers and eliminate them as quick as possible. Massani's unit was on the rooftop of a building at their ten giving them cover fire and suppressing the turians MG emplacements. Sigma 1 provided support for fireteam 15.

Zaeed Massani was clearly a masterful sniper, in less than a minute every turian MG had fallen silent with their gunners finding themselves in the ground with their brains splattered on the ground.

Biotic barriers produced by the turian Cabal units were vulnerable to ion lasers or electroshock plasmids which overloaded and pierced them or Incineration plasmid strikes which caused too much stress for the biotics who projected them.

Supporting the Task Force were eight DR-9 Warden Drones that provided overwatch and limited aerial support. Soon the tide of the engagement turned in their favor, the turian platoon was being decimated with its survivors routed.

A single female turian soldier made an attempt to charge against Sigma 2 consisting of Camile Dumas, a synth named Nathan and a soldier from the colony of Shambala named Arjun. That birdbrain bitch did not made even half way to the position of Sigma 2 when his second in command the Lilim Dumas used her Houdini plasmid powers to teleport disappearing in a cloud of purple dust and reforming herself just meters away from the charging turian.

"What in the spirits..?" the turian soldier barely managed to say before Camile threw an electroshock from her fingers at point blank range, paralyzing the spiky idiot, before grabbing her by the throat and using her as a human shield; against the rest of the soldiers.

"Release her you hairless pijacks" said another turian flanked by his fireteam before Camile threw a large Incineration strike that set the turian position in flames. Forcing them to jump from cover, right into the crosshairs of Zaeed's team; they fell one after the other in seconds under the sniper fire of Massani's team.

With the enemy in front of her gone, Camile threw another electroshock at her 'meat shield' paralyzing the alien soldier; and leaving her in the ground behind cover.

In mere minutes they had destroyed almost the entire turian platoon with zero casualties and only a few injured.

"Assist the wounded and escort the prisoners back to the inner perimeter" he ordered.

"Willco" the rest of the squad leaders answered.

He made a check on his data-tool, there were constant attacks on the perimeter, and the number of casualties on their side had increased.

The turians were not stupid they were coordinating their assaults with their orbital bombardments, while most shots from orbit near the center of the city were blocked, the ones on the outer perimeter were able to pierce through the tachyon shield destroying the garrison entrenched positions in the process, softening them for their ground assaults.

They were not going to hold for long if the fleet didn't arrive soon.

-.

**2155.07.11**

**Turian Legion's FOB**

Private Agron Lerrenus was regretting coming to this spirits damned planet, at the beginning of this operation their commanders told them they were to fight unknown aliens with most likely basic mass accelerator weapons.

These humans were trained soldiers and their weapons were far from primitive, by Palaven they were better than theirs in that they could hold rate of fire longer and used different types of ammo.

As for their powers, these plasmid biotics or whatever they call them were unlike anything else he had seen before, he hadn't even seen asari matriarchs with that kind of abilities.

Their armored divisions were worse; those praetorian super soldiers thrash their mechs like if they were made of scrap metal, while their APCs were no match to the human tanks. He had lost many friends already including a female comrade named Raena who was close to him at the hand of an enemy sniper.

Agron was beyond frustration, equally furious at the humans and his own commanders for getting them into this mess. What was worse General Orinia has assigned officers of the blackwatch the command of most operations; these bastards were as ruthless as they were arrogant, serving under them was like working for batarian pirates; they push you to the limit, he wanted to leave this planet and be done with it.

But first they needed to complete their jobs and leave this world alive; so he put his thoughts to rest and focused her anger on the enemy. Around him in their forward operations base close to the enemy perimeter, a dozen of his brothers and sisters were resting after the last attack. Arranged in blankets in the ground were several of his injured comrades, many were missing limbs or suffering from horrific wounds like chemical or electrical burns, these humans were as brutal as the krogans in fighting.

Agron squinted his nostrils, next to him was a row of tuian troopers who had been hit by human incendiary round and fire powers; the stench of burn flesh nearly made him gag. Every one of the burn victims were covered in bandages with blood, sweat and pus pouring out the injuries. Ion laser injuries were worse, not only they burned armor, carapace and flesh with ease but they also fryed the target's nervous system making the pain unbearable.

But when fighting the human praetorians there were no injured; praetorian weapons were so powerful that they kill with the first shot and worse still were their drills and saws, hacking off limbs and guts like butchers in the middle of the battlefield.

Ggeneral Orinia had also issued a warning order for an elite human Special Forces unit, known as the N7 team.

These operatives who wear black and red armors were highly dangerous apparently at the combat level of a council specter maybe according to the officers, they were considered both a priority target and a dangerous threat to take into account when encountered.

"All right whelps!" Lieutenant Trankos called them. "Command has given us a new target" he declared as the rest of the platoon gathered around him.

The holographic display in the command table showed a large building near an open plaza, with a parking lot next to it.

"In this location within the human perimeter this building serves as a field hospital for their auxiliary militia, by taking down this outpost we can pierce a hole in their defensive line and eliminate a critical rendezvous point" Trankos explained.

-.

Trankos lead the platoon against an entrenched enemy position in what appeared to be a ruined human medical facility. According to Intel the human militia was composed of civilians with minimum military training not garrison soldiers or 'marines' that were the true danger to them.

Their unit ran towards the courtyard, taking position behind any cover they could find while being fire upon by snipers and heavy repetition mass accelerator turrets (machine guns) from the upper levels and windows of the building.

A group of troopers carrying rocket launchers moved from cover to cover, flanked by the CABAL members as they took aim and fire their rockets on the building; blowing the entrench positions of the human snipers and MGs. In the courtyard however the battle was fierce as militia soldiers exchanged fire with his unit.

"CABAL unit, prepare barriers and cover the demolition group" Trankos ordered. "Lerrenus, Drunnos, Mefun get over cover and flank the enemy" he ordered to his group.

Above them the red glow of the super kinetic barrier protecting the city changed the sight of the sky when their ships' guns made an impact against the shield. Agron was fascinated if his people had this technology during the krogan rebellions, they could have saved millions of turian lives and protect their colonies without the constant presence of their fleets. It was a shame that their first contact with the humans has led to this disaster; they had so much to learn from their technology which could have been exchange peacefully instead of attempting to recover anything with this bloody war.

He and his friends jumped from cover to cover in an attempt to flank the humans fighting in the courtyard. Their assistant VI has classified the types and configurations of human troops and how much damage was needed to inflict on them in order to bring them down; the Alliance troops of the Militia used the same type of armor as the garrison and marines; only that the militiamen used helmets with an open visor instead full enclosed helmet designed for fighting in zero atmosphere environments. Also the militia used blue and white uniforms while the garrison and marines had camouflage patterns in their armors; or black armors in the case of their special forces.

Eight human soldiers were all that stood between them and the building's entrance, holding his rifle in both talons and carefully aiming; they opened fire on the closest human militiamen.

Luckily concentrated fire was capable of breaking their barriers and as most known races in the galaxy these humans were the same in one aspect: they were death if you put a bullet on their brains.

With the CABAL unit providing biotic and barrier support the rest of the platoon made quick work of the militiamen holding the courtyard, yet three of them managed to retreat while being covered by a militiamen holding a large mass accelerator weapons than resembled more like a portable turret cannon than a simple rifle.

-.

As they were about to enter the building, concentrated fire coming from the inside wipe out the first team. The human defenders had chosen their position wisely, the only open entrance to the hospital was a bottle neck perfect to hold their ground against any attacker, grenades and explosives weren't an option, humans made use of their biotic or plasmid power to return any hand grenade thrown their way.

Despite that Lieutenant Trankos have ordered them to do exactly that, to throw grenades and charge into the human position covered by biotic barriers held by two CABAL operatives; they had lost a dozen men in that charge and they failed to inflict a single casualty on the enemy defenders.

"Sir we need to make an entrance by opening one of the blocked entrances" he suggested.

"Shut up, soldier" the lieutenant answered. "You will do as I say, and I say we have no time to hack or clear an opening" the lieutenant explained in an arrogant tone.

"I will order an orbital strike, clear the area" Trankos ordered.

After moving to a safe distance, the lieutenant gave the order.

Above them, flashes of light appeared as mass accelerator volleys hit the tachyon energy field, shock waves of energy could be seen through the dome. Finally the fifth impact managed to get through, the shield segment above them vanished and the beam of metal going at near light speeds pass through.

A small quake was felt through the ground like a soft earthquake; half of the building in front of them blew in pieces of metal and concrete with red gore from its inhabitants falling like a curse rain.

It was a massive overkill but at least they haven't lost anyone else taking that spirits damned building.

"Move forward, secure what's left of the building and wipe out whatever remains of their defenders" their commanding officer ordered.

Climbing through the wreckage of broken concrete and twisted metal they walked towards the still intact wing of the hospital. As expected the condition of the defenders was miserable those who had survive the orbital bombardment, were two few and apparently still shell-shocked from the strike.

The hallways of the hospital were a death trap nevertheless; human soldiers were waiting in every corner firing and throwing plasmid attacks on every turian that poke their heads of cover.

Only three CABAL operatives remained with them, protecting them was paramount; after they killed the last of the defenders they hacked the door they were protecting. The team was ready for an ambush composed of the surviving militia; instead they found a large room filled with wounded human soldiers and medic personal wearing white coats.

"We surrender" one of the human medics an adult female declared. "Just don't hurt our patients; these soldiers are far too wounded to be any danger to any of you" she stated.

Lieutenant Trankos didn't reply, surprising Agron and the rest of the squad he raised his riffle and fired on the female medic. Her red blood staining her white coat as her corpse collapsed into the floor.

The rest of the humans panicked and attempted to flee or fight back preparing plasmid strikes. "KILL THEM ALL" the lieutenant ordered.

The squad despite their doubts obeyed their ingrained instincts and followed the order, firing madly at the humans both the standing medics and laying wounded.

In less than a minute the whole room had turned into a slaughterhouse, Agron felt a noose in the pit of his stomach. He did not like this, killing wounded and unarmed aliens was against everything that turian honor represented.

Most of the platoon seemed to be in agreement with him, their expressions reflected disgust and hesitation when looking back at their commanding officer.

Their doubts had little time to set in when a small quake was felt in the ground.

"Lieutenant, human reinforcements have arrived, the orbital ships are discharging heat, the humans have brought tank and gunships, we are being…" the transmission was cut short by an explosion and then static.

Everyone checked their coms; it was all the same, no response, only static.

"Sir we have to leave now!" Drunnos suggested approaching their CO; the lieutenant hit him in response.

"We are not leaving; we will destroy this position in order to prevent the humans from recapturing it. Grab the explosives and plant them around, we will make these aliens bleed" he explained.

Everyone looked at each other filled with doubts but followed their orders.

Planting explosives on the hallways they prepared to defend their position, it would have been easier with a few hostages with them, but now it seemed like they were trapped pijacks about to be cornered by a pack of hungry varren.

-.

Lieutenant Petrovsky jumped from the drop-ship into the roof of the still standing hospital, his fireteam with Ling in tow followed suit. According to the camera drones, the turians have massacred every militiamen and doctors in the building, his team was hungry for payback and he was ready to give them what they wanted.

"We have ten minutes before the turian counter attack and their orbital guns, be swift but be careful" he ordered; he felt like Vasili Záitsev in the battle of Stalingrad, in which the tide of WW2 was forever altered or like King Leonidas in the Termopilas.

They were making history with every action for mankind and the Alliance; he would not disappoint the historians.

"The turians apparently placed explosives all around the building, as mines and demolition charges" Lin explained looking at his data-wrist. "We need to disable them before we move forward; my recon drone has cloak concealment and advance hacking, our hack-darts and the plasmid Disruption may do the job" she explained.

He looked back at Ling, he did not think she was in fighting shape after so many days of combat, but he had faith in her and in his squad.

-.

The battle outside was not going well, three human tanks had annihilated most of the platoon's vehicles and mechs, the presence of the flying swarm of drones also affected their coms. They were cut off and divided.

Agron held his riffle as he kept his back to the wall that provided cover for him.

"Platoon get ready, enemy incoming" the CO ordered.

"Enemy squad in position" the watcher informed them.

"Excellent" the lieutenant answered, with the detonator between his talons. "Now they die" he said pressing the device.

Yet no explosion was heard or felt, to the confusion of everyone.

"The human drones must be interfering with our signals" one soldier suggested.

"Damn" Lieutenant Trankos declared, as grenades came out of the entrance, creating a curtain of smoke shielding the incoming enemies. "FIRE" he ordered.

Every gun fired on the entrance but combat drones came out of the smoke screen at rushing speeds hovering over them and flanking them.

"We need to retreat, sir" one turian soldier declared. "We are about to be overwhelm"

"Leverus cover us as we retreat" he ordered.

The team of corporal Leverus obeyed while the rest fled towards the exit.

As soon as they were out of the ruined building they managed to regain contact with command. Outside the battle was raging on with their own reinforcement fighting back the human counterattack; they had the numbers but the humans had tanks and praetorians with them.

They lost contact with Leverus team, it was clear they had been killed or captured.

Next to them was a large building that used to serve as a vehicle parking lot, it was nice place to find cover and evacuation by drop-ship.

They sprinted towards it, with a human team stepping on their heels.

-.

Petrovsky's team abandoned the fucking hospital with the second team escorting the turian prisoners out of the building. Most of his team wanted to shoot them there after what those bastards did to the hospital's staff and patients.

The battle was going in their favor as long they kept the ships from firing on them, with the tachyon shield still holding.

The turians were moving towards the parking lot according to the recon drones. Their commander apparently was a blackwatch operative to Intel command so he was considered a priority target.

"Orca 36, this is Lieutenant Petrovsky we need air support to block the turian escape route" he called through the comms.

-.

With a human gunship hovering around them it was clear that they could not escape, their best chance was to surrender with was a probable suicide after what they had done in the field hospital or they could ran through the human lines, an action that represented a certain suicide.

But their Lieutenant was no a coward nor a crazy maniac, he was worse: he was an arrogant idiot.

"Command this is Lieutenant Trankos, prepare an orbital strike in the previous target coordinates" he ordered.

Everyone knew what that meant, they were about to be hit by the shockwave of the mass accelerator gun; but perhaps that was the only way they could get out and denied the humans a victory.

-.

Petrovsky's fireteam arrived on the vehicle yard right before another volley of bombardment came from orbit hitting the tachyon shield.

"This is Coronel Xing, all forces evacuate the area at once; in 80 seconds the orbital bombardment will get through the shield" the comms spoke.

It was too late to retreat now for their fireteam what was left of the turian squad was shooting at them.

Finally the segment of the shield vanished as the mass accelerator round got through and hit the ground with a force of kilotons.

Their position was covered by a cloud of dust from the impact. Despite the chaos his squad put on their helmets and activated their tactical vision, in order to highlight friend from foe.

As the ground shake around them both humans and turians saw to their horror as one of the tall buildings near them also affected by the impact began to crumble and bend down, ready to fall in pieces over them.

"**Everyone run!**" he ordered.

His fireteam followed him, running as if the devil himself was pursuing them; the turians had the same idea, in that moment they care little for anything other than staying alive.

They barely managed to get to the next street when the building collapsed drowning them in a cloud of dust and smoke, with pieces of rubble raining around them.

Oleg Petrovsky rose in all fours trying to stand up, when he saw to his horror a turian in greyish black armor and white face paint standing up as well and aiming his riffle at him. In that moment he felt paralyzed, he had forgotten his training, his survival instincts or the small pistol still attached to his belt; he was equally as scared as surprised, and his entire body felt like stone with only his eyes and ringing ears reminding him of what was to happen.

His death never came though, in an instant a single shape came out of the side and jumped on the turian, it was Shen'Ji Ling with her omni saw deployed and aiming at the turian's neck.

The turian blocked the attack with his riffle nevertheless and with a swift kick he pushed Ling back before taking a long knife out of his belt.

He watched in horror as the turian officer stabbed Ling in the throat, she stood back from the turian while grabbing her neck coughing blood and finally falling into the ground.

Oleg had already recovered and grabbed his riffle ready to kill that bastard but an explosion shocked the ground as turian artillery hit their position. What remained of the Turian squad took the opportunity to flee while Oleg's team was still shell-shocked; despite that Ferreti and Olivera opened fire on the fleeing turians; killing and wounding three of them.

After recovering from the blast Oleg stood up and walked towards the corpse of Ling, she was still clutching to the wound on her throat, while beneath her lay a pool of warm red blood, her eyes were wide open looking at the sky as frozen in place at her final moments.

It was too late to take her to a vita chamber and hospital.

Oleg moved his hand to her neck and retrieved her dog tags, the two rectangles of metal detailing the words: Alliance Engineer Corps.

Beneath them was the name Shen'Ji Ling in Latin letters and Chinese writing. He moved his other hand to her face and tried to close her eyes and then he pressed his hand on her chest in a sign of respect.

The rest of the squad surrounded them, heads lowering in a sign of solemn respect.

"We lost a squad mate, let's make sure this was not in vain" he declared standing up and putting the dog tags in one of his pockets, then grabbing his riffle and guiding his team back to the battle.

"Peace to the fallen" he declared.

_Shen'Ji Ling had not been a garrison soldier, she was just an engineer who grew up in Shanxi, this was her home and she was just trying to defend it but in the end she had become part of his squad and save his life; he wasn't going to let that turian asshole walk free out of that but first they needed to hold the line._

-.

**2155.07.14**

**High orbit of Shanxi**

**SSV Cajamarca - CIC**

In the CIC of the Cajamarca Commander Harper and his commanding staff were looking at the hologram showing the six orbiting turian frigates firing on Quinhai; the shield was at a critical stage; if the bombardment continued the tachyon shield emitters would be fried within ten hours; and the shield would collapse leaving the city defenseless to orbital strikes.

They had to destroy the frigates **now**.

The holograms of General Williams and Coronel Liun Xian were 'present' in the meeting.

"General Williams what do you think?" Jack Harper the commander of Task Force Sigma asked.

"It is a solid plan Commander, but do you think you can pull it out, we will have to sacrifice almost the entirety of the Iron Flood to do it" General George Williams answered.

"We have to take those frigates down and we cannot use the rift portal of Quinhai's Colony Hub" Harper added.

The 'boarding' operation used by the Terran Navy through the onboard rift portals on their ships was not a simple operation, kinetic barriers and tachyon shielding created interference on the marking of coordinates for the rift portal exit. Ships made use of gravitonic beams to 'mark' the portal exit, but those were unable to pierce through barriers and energy shielding.

Also the rift portal in Quinhai's colony Hub was off, as most of the energy produced by the city's power grid was going to the tachyon shield emitters which were also suffering tremendous stress from holding the shield for so long. And even if there was enough energy to power the rift portal of the city Hub, there was no way the portal could connect with an object in orbit with the shield in the disrupting the coordinates connection.

Through the use of the Cajamarca's rift portal and the use of graviton emitters placed around the city, TF Sigma had been able to 'teleport' from place to place in an instant and not only support the positions of the garrison but also made hit and run attacks on the turians.

They have consistently inflicted a lot of damage into the turian legion strike forces but none of that meant shit if the shield collapsed. Without it the turians could turn Quinhai into a crater and the garrison would not be able to defend anything at all.

According to the QEC communications, the fleet was close to being ready for the counterstrike, so the arrival of cavalry was imminent.

So they were going to prepare a massive counterattack in order to soften up the turians before that, and eradicate their stranglehold over the colony.

Operation Burning Skies was a go.

-.

**Turian Frigate HWS Silver Spirit**

**In orbit of Shanxi**

"Captain we have human crafts coming towards us" the bridge scan operator informed them.

At least two dozen human drop ships were burning hard towards them from the planet bellow; it was crazy, there was no way the humans would believe that those vessels could take six turian frigates.

"Shot them" the captain ordered; this was most likely a desperate attack, maybe their super kinetic barrier was near collapse.

The turian frigates opened fire on them but the drop ships and gunships were very maneuverable and moved towards them at high speeds.

"Captain the drop ships are…opening" the scan officer made a pause as hundreds of smaller objects came out of the enemy vessels. "Drones are coming out of them, they are the same type of drones from the…swarm" she stuttered out.

_What in the spirits?_

"Blow them out with the gardian array" he ordered.

The drones were like bees or mosquitos making quit and fast sting attacks on the turian kinetic barriers enough for the SSV Cajamarca's graviton beam to mark their targets. And they were so small that even the gardian array cannons of the turian ships could not target them unless they moved very close to them.

Yet all they needed was too focus enough of their ion laser beams in a single vector of the ship's kinetic barrier to make their opening.

In the engineering bay of the Silver Spirits, the technicians though they had lost it when a rift singularity opened up as if a black hole had appeared in the middle of the deck containing the mass effect core; from the rift portal came out a single but huge modified disruptor torpedo.

They didn't even have time to realize what was happening when it blew up.

-.

In an instant the six frigates in geo stationary orbit over Quinhai blew from the inside, to the amazement of the turian fleet near the relay and the turian legion bellow. Yet for the human defenders cheers of victory came from each of them, they knew what have happened and that was it the time to strike back.

-.

**2155.07.14**

**Outskirts of Quinhai, Turian FOB**

"How they could do that?" asked General Orinia when she saw the explosions on the sky and received the report from the admiral.

The strange air anomaly over them (similar to the effect of air with a flame bellow) that showed that the tachyon shield was there somehow flickered and disappeared.

_Did the humans just shut down their shield why?_

She didn't need to wait the answer for long as soon several torpedoes came from orbit and instead of hitting the human city they made impact on her base.

Explosions erupted all around them, as she wondered if the human drop ships may have been equipped with heavy weapons.

"General a human strike force is moving towards our position" an officer informed them. "They have dozens of vehicles including tanks and gunships"

Shit, this was a coordinated strike; they took their ships in orbit in order to allow their main force to move against them.

-.

**11 minutes later**

"Ferreti cover me" Oleg Petrovsky ordered as he moved to flank the enemy unit.

They had the turians by the neck; they had a dozen sand tiger hover tanks on their side and close to two hundred combat praetorians including Rhinos with them. They had this, the turian legion on Shanxi was finished, what was left would not be able to keep the assault on Quinhaim with most of its troops death and their FOB destroyed.

Oleg fired his riffle and then threw a grenade and Incineration plasmid, burning an entrenched turian position.

The turrets protecting the turian base were down, TF Sigma has made use of their rift portal to infiltrate their base and disable their defenses.

Supported by a tank his unit pierced through the remains of a turian platoon.

"The N7s are here" he heard someone on the comms in an exited tone; the Special Forces drop ship flanked by four Orca gunships moved to the remains of the turian command center.

He doubted that what remained of the turian command could fight against Captain Dewitt's team. The battle was theirs.

-.

For Private Agron Lerrenus it was clear that the battle was over, the humans had pierced through their defenses, they were destroying the base and killing what remained of the legion.

They have lost contact with General Orinia and Coronel Nuzzra, they were most likely dead or captured.

It was over for everyone but their arrogant idiot commander Trankos.

-.

Oleg's heart skipped a beat when he laid eyes on the turian bastard who killed Ling.

"Fireteam we have a turian squad in our ten, led by the SOB who killed Shen'Ji" he advised.

The squad nodded in understanding, equally hungry for vengeance and determined to finish the job; they gathered up around him and charged at once jumping from cover to cover throwing plasmids, grenades and firing on the enemy.

Above them an Orca Gunship's engines roared and a hailstorm of missiles fell on the turian position.

Now they had their chance.

He remained behind cover while firing on every turian that entered into his helmet's tactical display. They were tough but he had equipped his riffle with armor piercing ammo that combined by Electroshock or Incineration plasmid strikes went through barriers and armor like a hot knife through snow.

The rest of his squad did the same covering him and returning or deflecting any explosives be either grenades or rockets thrown their way. According to their HUD only two turians remained with one injured and the one still standing being the one that killed Ling.

_It ends now!_

"Surround their position, the SOB is mine" he ordered.

With his team covering him, he moved close to the remaining turian, knocking the other out of combat with a direct electroshock on the chest. Now it was only Lieutenant Oleg Petrovsky and the Blackwatch officer Trankos.

"Die pijack!" the turian screamed throwing his grenade from cover.

Quickly switching his plasmid powers to telekinesis, Oleg telekinetically held the grenade in mid-air and returned it to the sender.

The Blackwatch officer didn't even have time to move out of cover when the grenade blew up throwing him like a rag doll at least five meters away.

Oleg approached the injured turian officer making a quick look at his surroundings to make sure that there were not any turian stragglers. The black armor turian lieutenant just rose from the ground and pushes himself against a wall looking back at Oleg.

_Now their roles have been reversed, _he though thinking about the last time he found himself on the other side of this turian's gun.

For a moment panic flickered in the eyes of the alien as he made an attempt to grab his riffle only for Oleg to use his telekinesis to grab it and throw it far away.

"This is for Ling!" Oleg shouted as he activated his omni blade.

In his left arm, the solid holographic circular saw appeared just as Oleg made a slash on the turian's face and chest.

Carapace, armor and bones were cut as royal blue blood and gore covered Oleg Petrovsky from head to toe; he stood back looking at the broken alien officer, and despite the adrenaline he felt a little disgust by the gore and entrails showered on him.

_Now I have turian brains on my eyes_, great.

They have avenged Ling, around them within the smoke and explosions, the remaining turians were dropping down their guns and surrendering to Shanxi's colonial guard.

They have won; now it was about time for the fleet to arrive and finally liberate this planet.

-.

**2155.07.14**

**SSV Marcus Aurellius; in orbit of the colony of New Indus**

**Fujian-Delta system; Lambda Expanse**

For Commodore Lillian Meltzer it felt as it ages had passed since they have left the Fujian-Alpha System, even though barely more than two weeks has passed. Every report coming from the besieged colony felt like another dagger striking her chest, even though she had her orders and it was better to live to fight another day, she felt as she had abandoned every man, woman and child on Shanxi to the aliens mercy.

But now they were mere hours away from beginning Operation Chicxulub.

_Yes it was a nearly unpronounceable and weird name, but it was suiting, as the Chicxulub crater on the peninsula of Yucatan was the supposed impact location of the meteor that had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs; and many of the soldiers fighting on Shanxi had adopted the nickname 'dinobird' or simply 'birdhead' while referring to the Turians. Operation Chicxulub was going to be the first real combat scenario for the Alliance's offensive-counterstrike doctrine; a massive operation to kick the Turians out of Shanxi and sent them back to where they came from._

"Are all our ships ready?" Commodore Meltzer asked to her CIC.

"Our remaining destroyers have been repaired and prepared" MARCOS explained in his synthetic voice.

"Our fighters and corvettes, had been refitted, we have also reinforced our numbers with crafts from the SSV Horatio Nelson" her deck officer informed. "We have a full complement now."

"Commodore we have received confirmation of Rear Admiral Su Kwon" her flag lieutenant Steven Hackett informed her. "Now it begins."

"No Lieutenant! Now it ends!" she answered quoting someone she did not remember who.

"Are you sure, we should try this tactic, commodore?" he stuttered for a moment. "I mean some people would consider it outright madness, not to mention we do not even know if the Rift siphon generator is capable to sustain so many jumps in such quick succession?"

"The admiral and I believe it is feasible and a possible way to avoid major casualties yet I am surprise Lieutenant" she answered. "I mean this was your idea, by the way, how did you come up with this mad maneuver?"

"Well, in truth…" he stuttered. "I was inspired by an old science fiction TV series, Star Trek."

"You are kidding me…" she answered. "But to be fair, human imagination and fiction has always had a huge influence in our space exploration, and protocols."

_The Cole Protocol for example, in which a ship at the risk of capture must whipped its computer core clean or engage self-destruct, in order to prevent capture; was based on 'the Cole protocol' from the videogame Halo. Being inspired by a console videogame, a TV series or a comic didn't make an idea or a plan less admissible than any other._

"What is the name of this particular tactic?" she asked the lieutenant.

"The Picard Maneuver" he answered with a smile on his lips.

-.

**2155.07.14**

**Star Base Theta in orbit of the colony of Tiptree**

**Theta Nebula**

In an enormous docking bay at the Star Base Theta; troops, vehicles and military hardware were being loaded into transport ships for the beginning of Operation Chicxulub, the invasion to retake Shanxi.

Even though the star base was the active headquarters of the Alliance forces on the cluster, the station was generally only defended by up to two full strength flotillas from the Eleventh fleet, but now as the enemy hold the Fujian-Alpha system, more than a thousand ships of the Fifth and Sixth fleet had been assembled on the single largest battle fleet in human history, holding position around the station right next to the Lambda-Shanxi relay waiting for the moment to cross into occupied territory.

Ensign David Anderson of Alliance marines Arcturus' First Division was preparing to embark with the rest of his men. Most of them did not look too eager to march for war. Yes as images and messages came from Shanxi and the garrison of the colony, every men and women on the First Division was filled with thirst for Turian blood. There was also an eagerness to fight, as the news that the colonial guard was holding its own against the so call 'best fighting force of the galaxy' had emboldened the troops; the Alliance's marines in particular seemed poised to prove themselves and show these aliens, of what humans were made of.

Yet there was a glimpse of doubt and uncertainty on the faces of everyone, humanity has not been engaged on real warfare in more than a century, the Alliance's soldiers were the best of humanity's military had to offer, but they haven't fought against aliens in a true battlefield yet.

Odds were in their favor however, the Quinhai garrison was already given the Turians hell, Commodore Meltzer had crushed the first turian fleet that came through the relay and Admiral Su Kwon had inflicted heavy casualties on their fleet, also thanks to their hacking of the turian computers, Highcom already knew a great deal of Turian combat doctrine and strategies, while they did not knew anything about fighting the Terran Alliance's army on a real battle.

They say the best defense is offense, if that was true then the Turian were in for a nasty surprise.

No one knew what the strategy for the attack on the system was, other than the defensive position of the Turian fleet around the Shanxi-Theta relay guarantied heavy casualties on the threshold engagement with the Alliance's ships.

According to a few rumors the surviving ships of the Eleventh fleet under Admiral Su Kwon was in orbit of New Indus getting ready for an operation to harass the Turian fleet and weaken their defensive position.

Ensign Anderson was an infantry man but even he knew that if Su Kwon's fleet moved against the Turians they were going to be outnumbered six to one, and completely outgunned against four dreadnoughts. He did not like those odds, not to mention that Admiral Su Kwon and his fleet had done enough already, asking them to sacrifice more lives in the liberation of Shanxi did not seem right.

An entire army corps of nearly half a million soldiers had been gathered, amongst the troops present were soldiers coming from nearly every nation of Earth and its colonies. Even though the standard uniform of the Alliance's navy was designed to only include the insignia of the Terran navy and in a way portray an unified humanity and the Terran Alliance, the army's officers however used an hybrid uniform that show their birth nation's flag on the shoulder.

Through the hangar, David could see hundreds of Americans, Chinese, Russians, French, British (like him), Indians, Rapturians, Japanese and dozens of other flags that he was not familiar with; there were even a few soldiers of the semi-autonomous colonies, with the flag of the Praxian Directorate and the Shinoan Republic proudly displayed on their uniforms. It was impressive seeing practically all of humanity united in purpose for this historical moment.

His thoughts were interrupted when a sharp sound drilled through his eardrums:

"[Alarm Noise] All Alliance personal stand by, for a priority message" the speakers shouted in a feminine clearly synthetic voice, before being replace by a human and clearly familiar voice.

"This is Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao addressing every sailor, soldier and crewman who is about to face the Turian forces occupying Shanxi" the determined voice of the highest ranking officer of the Alliance's navy was broadcast through the speakers.

"You stand at the threshold of history; this is the moment when mankind and the Alliance shall claim their place on this universe. The Turians and the Citadel, believe us to be barbarians, to be primitive, to be weak and ignorant beings not worthy of ruling ourselves. They are sorely mistaken!"

As he took a pause, a loud YEAAHHH was shouted across the entire station and fleet.

"Look to the man or woman next to you and you will find that soldiers of every nation, of every planet have gathered here, to fulfill this mission; even our allies from the Rachni Hive have come to provide us support. No matter what separate us all, it shall be known to all that mankind stands together and it will fight as one to defend their own! Today we show the Turians, the Citadel Council and the entire galaxy the strength of the indomitable will of the human spirit and the power of our intellect! Today we will burn their ships and break their army, in an attack that will mark in fire our place in history! Let it be known today! Humanity has been awoken and now the galaxy shall see our might!"

"HURRAAAHHHH!" was shouted by every man and woman on the hangar, in a thundering shout that seemed capable of making the very bulkheads shake with fear.

"Operation Chicxulub will begin in two hours, stand ready!" the voice of the admiral finished the message.

As Ensign Anderson and his team boarded their ship and loaded their equipment he glimpsed a shadow of nervous and hesitation in a few of his men. A soldier in particular was looking at a picture on his data wrist perhaps his girlfriend, his wife or his sister; too young to be his mother, he was thinking the same though everyone shared: Am I to survive this? Will I return home alive? Will I ever see you again?

He knew he had to make something to calm the nerves of everyone, so he turned to the soldier next to him, Private Hendricks.

"So Hendricks, how is your mother doing?" David asked.

"Fine" he said, confused. "Why?"

"Cause I heard your momma was so ugly the marines thought she was a turian…Almost shot her" he joked, that get him a few smiles.

Then Hendriks turned to him and said. "Hell Anderson, I heard it was a picture of your momma that started this whole war in the first place, scared the turians shitless."

Everyone laughed and Anderson did as well, he was certain they were going to be okay. They were determined, relaxed and prepared for whatever the universe throw at them.

-.

**2155.07.15**

**Citadel Council Chambers**

**Serpent Nebula**

"HOW?! WHY?!" Councilor Tevos ranted.

"WHAT in the Goddess name were you thinking, Primarch?" she asked the hologram of the turian primarch, completely outraged by the turians moronic actions in this disastrous first contact with a new species.

"Believe Councilor I share your indignation, had admiral Varkus survived the first engagement with the humans he would have been demoted and court-martialed. His stupidity brought the death of thousands of good turians who were only doing their jobs" the primarch declared.

A few hours after the report of the salarian STG of massive turian ship and troop movements alongside supplies lines arrived at the Council, the asari and salarian councilors had confronted their turian colleague who in turn had called the primarch of Palaven.

Facing with the revelation, the Primarch came clean and provided the Council with the entirety of the reports detailing the events leading to the current situation in the system through relay 314.

_Say what you like about the turians being arrogant and imperialistically aggressive but they were honorable, when confronted with guilt they did not lie nor divert responsibility on others._

"The situation is problematic" the salarian councilor added. "New race in possession of remarkable technology: super kinetic barrier protecting colony city, ships using direct energy weapon similar to the one reported in encounters with the terminus black fleet, advanced ships barriers capable of protecting an entire fleet formation, new species apparently bi gender in nature and reports suggest natural affinity to biotics and strange powers, use of drones and mechs as auxiliary units, disturbing; clearly ignorant of the dangers of AI rebellion yet advanced and efficient nonetheless" she recited her observations on the reports.

"The actions of the turian forces were justified, these humans may be accomplices of the Terminus Black Fleet and if they are not then they should be punish for breaking the Council laws and activating a mass relay" Prateus the Turian councilor declared trying to support his primarch.

"Those laws were meant to prevent war with undiscovered species not start one; and you cannot accuse a species of breaking a law they knew nothing about" she declared with the same indignation as before.

"Well we also can't accuse them of violating the treaty of Farixen then" the Primarch added. "Please read the last report detailing the survey records of the frigate HWS Verkan" he requested and the councilors complied.

Tevos eyes almost bulge out of their sockets in complete amazement for the first time in centuries upon reading the reports detailing the human capital ships: their dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts.

The Destiny Ascension banner ship of the Citadel Fleet and pride of the Asari Navy was 1202 meters long, 2038 meters wide and 2342 meters tall with a compliment of 10000 crewmen, it was a massive moving fortress of unparallel power; she was the largest and most powerful warship in the known galaxy; or had been until now:

The last turian report described the hundreds of humans warships on the other side of the relay that lead to the colony known as Shanxi; the human dreadnought known as the SSV Lhotse was even longer than the Destiny's ascension and according to the battle reports it's main gun was even stronger, there were five of them just behind a few mass relays. More troubling nevertheless were those colossal warships the turians had classified as super dreadnoughts: 1800 meters long ships perhaps more powerful and deadlier than the destiny's ascension, although not as tall.

_By the goddess_

"Human casualties are considerable, though not as much as turians casualties. Human soldiers and ships certainly powerful" the salarian councilor added.

"These humans could be a remarkable addition to the Citadel" Tevos suggested, fascinated by the new races capabilities but also calculating in her mind all the ways she could keep them in check and subordinated to the council.

"I agree" the salarian councilor added but her face remained doubtful. "But the longer the battle on shanxi continues the lower our possibilities to assimilate these newcomers become, even if their fleets and colonies are small in numbers, their technology and capabilities give them a considerable advantage over our regular forces in equal ground" she explained.

"More troubling yet are the actions of the turians, considerable damages on the colony city and a great deal of civilian casualties on the human side are most likely" she explained.

"This species if left with an unshakable hatred and mistrust towards the turian hierarchy and by association the citadel council, could become a nightmare for us and our successors. Who knows just how many colonies, soldiers and ships they have" the salarian councilor declared.

"I have to agree, your actions Primarch may have irreversible push the humans against all of us, this situation is a political disaster, the press and the public will slaughter us if the news that the our latest first contact with a new species started with turian vessels opening fire on their ships and invading their colony" Tevos stated, leaving the two turians in the room with a deep frown in each of their faces.

"Then how do you suggest we proceed Tevos?" Prateus asked.

"Have your forces retreat at one from the human system, then we can send a diplomatic party and engage in a true first contact" she suggested even thought it sounded more like an order.

"We can't do that Councilor, if our forces break their defensive formation around the shanxi-theta relay the human fleet on the other side could slaughter our forces, we need to send reinforcements from the other citadel races in order to push the humans into the negotiating table one way or another" the primarch declared, Tevos was about to counter his argument when the turian's expression softened considerable.

"Afterwards we can try to make amends with the humans, the turians will assume our responsibility and perhaps even agree to pay reparations if the humans' agree to cease all hostilities" the primarch explained.

"If the humans are left to their own devices they could turn into a cancerous root in the body of our dominion, if they refuse to join the citadel, which is unlikely yet not impossible, they will turn into a powerful dominion for our enemies to rally behind. The batarians are troublesome enough as an associated species, but a technologically advanced nation capable of holding their own against the turian army and navy…" the primarch made a pause.

"Imagine an independent power providing aid to every terminus nation, gang or criminal syndicate that promises to make our lives miserable; we cannot allow that" he sentenced.

That last statement left the council chambers in silence, what the primarch of Palaven has said was true, they could not afford to have the humans in a position of strength if not submitted to the council's authority.

"We will deploy a fleet larger than the one of Admiral Justinius, composed of vessels from the three Council races, that fleet will depart to the system known as Fujian-Alpha and upon arrival. The turian fleet shall be relieved and abandon the system alongside the turian legion on the ground" she suggested.

"May be, we might be able to avoid a battle and war in the first place if we convince the humans to engage in diplomatic talks" she added.

"I will not protest against it Councilor, so far the battle on the human system is only costing us lives and resources with very little to show for our part" the Primarch stated. "I will have some of our human prisoners transfer to the Citadel nevertheless in order for you to examine and interview them" the Primarch conceded, Tevos and Ashael nodded at that.

"I suggest for the unified fleet to gather on the Alarak system as it is the main rendeveus position near Relay 314" the salarian Councilor suggested.

Everyone nodded and remained silent.

Deep inside Tevos felt a sense of distress she has not felt in centuries, this new species was clearly technologically and culturally advanced if they were capable of holding their own against a numerically superior turian force. If they were to make demands the Council could not comply, then war would be their only option in order to make them submit to the authority of the Citadel.

She was praying to the goddess that a longer war would not be necessary; or that the turians had not opened the door for something worse than the rachni or the krogan put together.

-.

**2155.07.15**

**Erebus Nexus - Secret Room**

**Hours before the Beginning of operation Chicxulub**

_My fellow citizens, sons and daughters of Earth and her colonies, the time for complacency is over. A few weeks ago the long standing plan of growth and development for the Terran Alliance was broken not by the short foresight of private corporations as the press has declared but by the negligence of a single man: Mateusz Joeng._

_The representative of the Chinese government on Shanxi tampered the galactic maps of the Zodiac Cluster to force the activation of the Fujian-Zodiac Relay, expanding the area of control under Shanxi's and his influence, all in order to increase his own political standing._

_Representative Joeng has been arrested and a hearing pending trial is in process at the moment._

_Through his actions he has opened the door to the rest of the galaxy revealing our people to the Turians and their Citadel Council. When we encountered the first vessels of an alien power in our space instead of offering us the hand of peace the Turians opened fire on unarmed ships and attack our fleet._

_In a clear display of their intentions and their overwhelming arrogance calling themselves the masters and rulers of the galaxy the turians have intruded in our space and invaded the colony of Shanxi. As our valiant soldiers fight the invaders in our besieged colony, making them play for each human life taken; our admirals and sailors are gathering up the fleet for an imminent counterattack on the Fujian-Alpha System._

_My compatriots, the Turians, the Asari and the Salarians believe us to be inferior, to be primitive and to be ignorant of the 'rules of the civilized galaxy'; even though their dominion was built over the remnants of the corrupt and imperialistic Prothean Empire, and just like the protheans their history is filled by wars and atrocities; like the genophage and their lack of response at the quarians situation and the plague of batarian slavery._

_They expect us to fall down to our knees and beg for mercy, to crawl down begging to be part of their great galactic community as they believe themselves to be omnipotent and superior to every other creature in the known galaxy._

_But they do not know us, we are the children of terra a civilization composed of many peoples united under a common purpose; from every war, from every crisis, from every discovery we have learned and adapted. While our jump into space started with the prothean ruins, we have created a new path forward through our own intellect and will, we have surpass the protheans and overcome the fear of IAs to live in harmony and symbiosis with our synthetic brethren._

_There shall not be more hesitation; the turians declared war on us when they invaded Shanxi and is up to us to make them answer from their aggression; if they desire peace then we shall grant it to them in our terms and upon our will._

_The children of Terra have been awoken, and now the universe shall feel our might._

-.

(Terran Alliance Prime Minister Natalia Ferro speech on the eve of the operation to liberate Shanxi)

-.

"Are we ready to begin the counterattack, Elizabeth?" asked Jack Wynand as he took his eyes away from the TV screen.

"Yes we are Jack; Operation Chicxulub and the beginning of our retribution blitz on Citadel Space is almost ready" Elizabeth explained.

"Good, it is a shame that manipulating men like Atlas and Joeng to open the relay and set the ground for the First Contact War to happen in this way was the only way to wake the galaxy out of its slumber" he said in a sad tone.

"A thousand years of peace under the Citadel Council are nothing more than complacency, corruption and technological stagnation. The asari, salarian and turians have been dancing under the reaper tune for far too long, we have to help them break free" she declared.

"Easy for you to say" he said. "When connected to the Lutece device you can see every door and what's behind every door, as you say"

"And behind one of them, I see him" she made a pause. "The main player in the incoming game" she added with a smile.

"Sheppard" he answered.

"Yes, I also see our other player, your little butterfly" she smiled.

"We have cemented her existence already and even Sheppard would all the help that we can get. She could be our best bet in finding the catalyst" he explained.

"Let's hope so my friend, let's hope so" she declared while grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

He smiled and did the same.

-.

**CODEX:**

**Terran Alliance Land Force Command**

**Infantry units:**

**-Fireteam:** The smallest unit of the Alliance army consisting of 6 soldiers, in order to take advantage of the infantry specialization classes.

**-Squad:** Consisting of 3 fireteams, these units contain 18 soldiers.

**-Section:** Consisting of 3 squads, these units contain 54 combat soldiers.

**-Platoon:** Consisting of 5 sections, these units contain 270 combat soldiers.

**-Company:** Consisting of 4 platoons, these units contain 1,080 combat soldiers.

**-Cohort:** Consisting of 3 companies, these units contain 3,240 combat soldiers.

**-Battalion:** This is the unit level where the Alliance incorporates their reserve forces. Consisting of 2 cohorts in peacetime, these units contain 6,480 combat soldiers. However, a third cohort made up of reserves is always part of the battalion on paper. In wartime, they will be called up and deployed bringing the battalions combat solider count to 9,720.

**-Regiment:** Consisting of 3 battalions, these units contain 19,440 combat soldiers in peacetime and 29,160 in wartime.

**-Brigade:** Consisting of 3 regiments, these units contain 58,320 combat soldiers in peacetime and 87,480 in wartime.

**-Division:** Consisting of 3 brigades, these units contain 174,960 combat soldiers in peacetime and 262,440 in wartime. Divisions generally come in three types, infantry divisions (x3 infantry brigades), armoured divisions (x3 armoured brigades), and combined divisions (x2 infantry brigades and x1 armoured brigade).

**-Corps:** Consisting of 3 divisions, these units contain 524,880 combat soldiers in peacetime and 787,320 in wartime. Like divisions, corps generally come in three types. Armoured corps are the rarest (x2 armoured divisions + 1 combined division), followed by infantry corps (x2 infantry divisions + 1 combined division). Most corps are standard corps consisting of x3 combined divisions. However, when combined into a corps the brigades that form these divisions are typically swapped to mass armour together unless they are deployed do different areas of operations. This means that the standard corps effectively consists of x2 infantry divisions and x1 armoured division when massed in a single operational area. This has caused – some speculate intentionally – several mistakes by Citadel races intelligence agencies attempting to monitor human troop movements.

**-Army:** An Alliance army consists of 3 – 5 corps. Three is standard and the two-additional corps are usually broken down into their component parts and assigned as garrisons across the army's designated cluster. Offensively, most armies consist of 3 corps except the command army for an army group which contains 5 corps as standard. With a standard 3 corps makeup these units contain 1,574,640 combat soldiers in peacetime and 2,624,400 in wartime.

-.

**Galactic Mayor Powers' militaries 2155:**

This is an overview of the military, industrial and logistic capabilities of the mayor powers on the known galaxy; made through extensive research by the Alliance Security Bureau (ASB); the long term planning of the Alliance illustrated by the continuous updates and redesigns of various battle plans and contra measure strategies like Battle Plan Case Red, may be put to the test with the beginning of the First Contact War.

These numbers especially those detailing population and number of colonies are still uncertain but those observations may lead to the drafting of an efficient strategy against humanity's rivals on the galactic stage.

So far the Alliance's sole control of the rift gate technology has allowed humanity to explore, colonize and develop systems and planets that other races would consider far too distant from mass relay's connected systems. **To better explain this:** the distance between the Sol system's relay (the Charon Relay) and Arcturus's relay is of approximately 1500 light years, without the mass relay, a normal mass effect FTL drive jump (from 5-8 LY/ day) could take more than 190 days to reach Arcturus from Sol, not taking into account the consumption of fuel and it's depletion before reaching those coordinates; to clarify it would be impossible for a regular ship to move from cluster to cluster without the mass relay network, a trait clearly illustrated by the fact that only 2% of the portion of the galaxy claimed by the Citadel Council stands occupied by them and their associated races.

Meanwhile the rift gates make an stable gateway from one system to another in an instant only limited by their power output, cool down and compatibility with the other rift gate. This tactical and logistic advantage represents the baseline of the Alliance colonization effort and naval doctrine; as the systems containing mass relays are the most vulnerable to attack by races which only make use of mass effect FTL drives; while systems like Scorpio-Epsilon (containing the colonies of Praxis and Glacies, main suppliers of eezo for the Alliance) or Jotunheim-1 (containing the Erebus Nexus) are far too distant from the relays to launch full scale incursions on them yet not invulnerable to attack from an enemy determined, patient and capable enough.

**Terran Alliance's navy and military might – 2155:** By the eve of the First Contact War there were more than 6000 warships operated by the Terran Systems Alliance plus over 2000 support and reserve ships. This number was considerable large for galactic standards at that time, taking into account the Turian Hierarchy (the largest military power in the galaxy) at the moment counted a fleet of over 12000 warships with 32 Dreadnoughts amongst them. Also the technological superiority of the Terrans and monopoly of the rift gate FTL method could provide humanity with a considerable edge on a war with the Citadel Council; but the Alliance's forces and population were considerable outnumbered by the rest of the long existing nations.

The terran navy was organized in powerful battle groups located at critical sectors and in proximity to strategically located mass relays hubs and Rift Gates nexus points. These fleets were composed of smaller flotillas and squadrons divided among various colonies and outposts, with the importance or population of the colonies determining the strength of their respective garrison and defensive fleets.

Population: 21 billions (15% of them being synths and AIs individuals)

Active Fleets: 12 (6200 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 20

Colonies: 700 colonies

-.

**Rachni navy and military might - 2155:** The first and strongest ally of the Terran Alliance in the galactic playground has already presented its support to humanity's cause and the largest of their Hive fleets is already preparing to enter the war.

For the past decades through cloning and selected breeding the Rachni Hive under the command of Empress Maia and her daughters, the brood queens has rebuilt its population and now stands as a considerable industrial and military power aligned with the Terran Alliance. Many mining outpost and industrial facilities through human surveyed space are jointly operated by humans and rachni were the adaptive and inventive capabilities of the insectoid race have become invaluable for the terran economy.

The Rachni military is still considerable small (in comparison to the humans and turians) as the queens and colonies have little interest in returning to a dark past but they recognize the dangers the galaxy may hold against their race remembering the war that almost drive them to extinction. The rachni fleet is composed of frigates, spore cruisers and devourer class dreadnoughts, as well as multiple corvettes as the rachni don't make use of combat fighters; the entire rachni fleet is equipped with advanced terran military hardware like Tiamat cannons and Tachyon shielding on their capital ships.

In a declaration of trust the Parliament has granted the Hive several rift siphon drives to place on their largest warships, which would grant them the same level of mobility of the human navy.

Population: 8 billions (hard to estimated considering the number of workers and cloned broods)

Active Fleets: 3 (1900 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 7

Colonies: 30

-.

**Turian navy and military might – 2155: **The Turian Hierarchy is the largest military power in the galaxy and the greatest opponent of the Alliance on the case of a galactic war. The Turians are the more imperialistic and militaristic of the citadel species, even though their expansion has been limited by the shortage of dextro environment planets. Perhaps that was one of the main reasons behind the turians refusal to help the quarians during the geth rebellion three centuries ago as they realized that without the quarians they would have an exclusive monopoly of all charted dextro garden worlds, inside Citadel space or the Attican Traverse.

The Turian economy is second only by the asari in Citadel Space even though it is the Volus Protectorate the overseer for the Hierarchy's economy; they also hold the largest population of the Citadel races, despite the fact that their population growth has suffered because of the lack of suitable colonization prospects and events like the Unification Wars and Krogan rebellions which shattered their worlds and populations. While the turian Hierarchy has maintained peace on the known galaxy for over a thousand years, their military apparatus has sustained a considerable technological and historical stagnation; their ships while formidable rely on a considerable measure on superior numbers and firepower for the success of their standard doctrines, perhaps putting quantity over quality on their military industry.

On the ground their forces are highly disciplined, the saying "you will only a turian's back when he is dead" has been confirmed by various reports of Alliance troops on Shanxi. But the lack of armored vehicles, battle tanks or heavy infantry is a considerable weakness that the Shanxi's garrison has exploited in numerous engagements through the use of praetorians and tanks in order to overwhelm and overpower turian infantry units; this lack of more specialized ground forces may be derived by the turian's long standing doctrine of combined arms approach and orbital supremacy in favor over long sustained ground engagements.

All of those traits and weaknesses are clear signs of a power that has remained unchallenged for far too long and has never seen its unshakable doctrines pit against an enemy with superior hardware and advance tactics.

Population: 100 billions

Active Fleets: 30 (12000 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 32

Colonies: 110 (through council space and traverse)

-.

**Asari navy and military might – 2155: **The asari are the most advanced race on Citadel Space and hold the largest economy; they were the first species in the known galaxy to achieve FTL and find the Citadel so they hold the largest number of colonies of the Citadel species as well.

Their population is relatively small in comparison to the other races, this is due to the fact that their long live race is able to live up to a thousand years while they only tend produce a small number of children during their lifetime. This slow population development is also one of the reasons for the stability of the asari economy, population booms that may lead to economic rifts are rare through their history, aging and the succession of generations are on a much slower rate than those of other races.

Their ships are of a much higher quality and technology than those of the Turian Hierarchy, most asari ships above frigate weight (cruisers and dreadnoughts) tend to posses two mass effect drive cores instead of one, this does not only provides them with stronger kinetic barriers and firepower but also allows them to make successive FTL jumps: use one drive core while the other is recharging; for example they can jump into a system where an enemy fleet is, open fire on them and immediately retreat using the second drive core; or made in system FTL jumps in order to close or take distance from the enemy. This mindset is well illustrated by the asari doctrine of hit and run tactics and high precision guerrilla warfare in order to weaken an enemy into submission and diplomacy instead of attrition base warfare.

The asari are most likely not prepared for a massive war with the Alliance without the aid of the rest of the Council races, for too long they have entrusted the militaristic and intelligence services to the turians and salarians respectably; their commandos are formidable but few in numbers just like their special forces. Their main intention long term (as there is no short term for the asari) is to maintain their economic, political and technological supremacy over the rest of the species of the galaxy at any price.

Their territory is the most distant from Alliance systems so a sustained engagement with them would require the capture of one or more strategically located systems like a mass relay chokepoint and the re positioning of rift gates on that 'foothold' in order to transport forces from Alliance space to the asari front on an efficient time frame.

Population: 62 billions

Active Fleets: 18 (5400 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 18

Colonies: 130 (through council space and traverse)

-.

**Salarian navy and military might – 2155: **The salarians hold the smallest economy and territory of the Council races; but their technological edge is second only to the asari's. Salarian doctrine is to have their wars finish before they began, strike hard on an enemy and cripple its capabilities to strike back.

Salarian population is highly controlled: 90% of the population are males and the remaining 10% are females (as eggs hatched by salarian females produce males if not fertilized and females if fertilized by a male), this is due to a birth control protocol established by their government long ago and later cemented in their culture and society. Before they achieved FTL and began colonization Sur'kesh suffered a period of overpopulation and near environmental collapse that only ended when the unified government impose those birth restrictions.

Salarian fleets are small in number, but what they lack in quantity they make due in quality, not as powerful as those of the asari or the Alliance perhaps but their ships use state of the art systems and weaponry, GARDIAN arrays point defense systems used near-ultraviolet frequencies lasers instead of infrared, making them more deadly at close range. According to rumors, Salarians may also be working on prototype stealth ships but ASB intelligence has not uncovered any level of completion yet.

The Salarian STG is the most efficient intelligence and covert operations service on the known galaxy (without counting the ASB of course), they also spear-head many surgical precision strikes on critical targets on 'peace keeping operations'. As slippery as their nature has made them salarians tend to conduct proxy wars against their enemies, using third party's forces against their foes while denying responsibility or accountability afterwards.

Salarian scientists are amongst the best minds of the galaxy, if faced with a powerful enemy they may resort to any edge at their disposal (perhaps they have more in common with the humans than we may think); as the krogans have learned the hard way they are not above using biological warfare or even conducting genocide on a considerable scale.

Population: 85 billions

Active Fleets: 15 (4500 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 15

Colonies: 90 (through council space and traverse)

-.

**Batarian navy and military might – 2155: **The wretched Batarian Hegemony is a large festering wound on the face of the galaxy. They boast from the safety of their meager empire which is under the iron grip of a quasi-police state; it's hard to separate fact from blatant lies and propaganda because of this. They declare that Kar'shan holds a population of 15 billion and an economy that rivals that of the asari's, this in simple terms is pure bullshit while their economy possesses little expenses because of their slave workforce, their technological advances are few and the quality of their weaponry and machinery is low.

Batarian government is an autarchy with wealthy and influential individuals serving as a sort of oligarchy holding positions of power through connections rather than merit. This caste system that they are so proud off has left the batarians in a state of permanent economical and social stagnation that they are only able to break through aggressive expansion and ultra nationalism in order to keep the lower castes in check and subservient to the orders of the upper class.

It is disturbing the fact that the batarians hold thousands of individuals from the Citadel racesas slaves, kidnapped and enslaved through raids at colonies on the Attican Traverse, yet the Citadel Council does little to nothing in order to combat this; perhaps they wish to avoid war with the Hegemony and Terminus systems while expanding their influence through the traverse.

The batarians conduct wars through pirates, mercenaries and warlords in order to avoid political backslash for their aggressions, yet this does not make them any less dangerous. While most likely possessing only a few dreadnoughts and a small fleet, they are still a force to be reckoned; and as such they must be dealt with accordingly and with careful planning.

Population: UNKNOWN

Active Fleets: UNKNOWN

Dreadnoughts in service: at least 3 (according to ASB intelligence)

Colonies: 25 (through their space and traverse)

-.

**Quarian fleet and military might – 2155:** All that is left of the quarian people remains on an enormous armada of barely functioning starships known as the migrant fleet. Nearly 50000 ships from almost every race on the known galaxy, most of them long discontinued models of starships recovered from ship breaker docks or bought by almost nothing by quarian pilgrims. Some of them are civilian ships or warships bought from the turians and volus, many others are assembled models of quarian frigates and cruisers and there are even a couple of quarian ships like their heavy cruisers from before the geth rebellion; all of them composed a massive fleet centered on the three live ships built by the quarians as 'arks' at the end of the geth rebellion which cultivate the food necessary to maintain the quarian population.

There can be no doubt that the migrant fleet is formidable and the quarians are some of the best engineers of the galaxy but without considerable support the vessels of the migrant fleet are simply no match to the ships and dreadnoughts of the mayor powers of the Milky Way. Also the quarians have little population and resources to engage in any long term conflict; but if the Terran Alliance were to offer colonization rights, resources and technology the Migrant Fleet after passing through refits and upgrades could become an unstoppable force on humanity's side.

Population: 18 millions

Active Fleets: The migrant fleet (almost 50000 ships)

Dreadnoughts in service: 0

Colonies: 0

-.

**Others: **The **Hanar, Drell, Volus, Elcor, Krogan** or **Vorcha** have little to no forces to take into consideration at a possible war between the Citadel Council and the Terran Alliance; the Volus and Elcor navies are little more than patrol fleets not suitable for prolong combat, the hanar have very few ships while the Krogan and Vorcha have none. The Krogans in particular could become an useful ally of the Alliance, as the old saying goes: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", the development of a cure for the genophage may bring the krogans into the Alliance's arms but it would also erase any mechanism of population control imposed on the Krogans, making them a dangerous threat in a foreseeable future.

There is no Intel or projections regarding the **Geth**, they could be the greatest threat to all organic life on the galaxy or one of the strongest allies humanity could make if our synthetic population segment is capable of negotiating an alliance; even though a treaty with the Geth will most likely eradicate any hope of bringing the Quarians into the Alliance.

-.

**Alliance Marine Corps Talos G-6 light infantry Body Armor:** The standard Alliance combat armor was first developed by Ryan Industries with a base on the technology of the praetorian armor. The Talos G-6 body armor is composed of a synthetized bio-organic tissue with nanotechnology; designed to 'adapt' its composition to better suit their needs; like adapting a measure of thermal and radiation insulation in the case of a combat situation in a planet with high temperatures and heavy UV radiation.

The outer layers of the armor are made of ceramic and composite polymers stronger and lighter than Kevlar. An array of eezo shield projectors serve to stabilize the kinetic barriers that serve as the final and primary layer of protection for the armor's user. Several attempts had been made to install a tachyon shield generator in the armor to produce an 'almost unbreakable' shield to protect its user but so far the cost and poor efficiency of a tachyon core so small has prevented this upgrade to be added into the main production line.

The armor also has a modular bio-system that interacts with the user directly in order to apply medi-gel in case of an injury, stims in combat situation and saline EVE solution for plasmid users.

During the siege of Shanxi, the Talos G-6 infantry armor used by the soldiers of the colony's garrison and militia prove to be far superior to those used by the turian troops and even Blackwatch operatives.

-.

Terran Alliance Protocols:

**-Threat Condition SABER:** Situation Assessment and Battle Emergency Readiness. In discarding the old and archaic DEFCON system, SABER was created not only as a replacement for DEFCON, but also as a general guideline for what military political and civilian actions to use in the event of first contact. All final exact plans to respond to first contact fall at the discretion of the Prime Minister of the Terran Alliance, Security Council, and the Parliament.

**-Lutece Contingency:** Emergency protocol that states that in the case of capture or surrender, all efforts must be made to protect the Rift Gate technology from falling into the wrong hands.

**-Phoenix Contingency:** In the case of an extinction event or a massive alien invasion, the Phoenix Contingency is put in place to safeguard the continuing existence of mankind and its knowledge and technology. Multiple 'vaults' and bunkers have been built in multiple distant planets containing frozen fertilized embryos and libraries of databases meant to keep humanity and it's achievements alive in case of the collapse of the Alliance and Earth.

**-Hydra Contingency:** In the case of war, the most valuable and high ranking members of the Alliance and humanity are separated and kept in secret locations to protect not only the hierarchy of the nation from complete collapse in case of the a massive attack on a critical target but also to preserve the best minds military and scientific for the ongoing conflict.

**-Manticore Contingency:** The Alliance department of contagious diseases and Health installed the Manticore Contingency as a protocol detailing the quarantine and containment operations in the case of outbreak of alien viruses or biological weapons.

-.

**Disclaimer:**

I hope you'd enjoyed this chapter, I know you are eager for the true encounter between the arrogant and ignorant citadel council and the terran alliance but the events I have set in motion need to be fully developed alongside my characters cannon and OC.

I wanted this story to be as realistic as possible (a hard thing to do so, considering the various plot holes on the mass effect cannon) so I dedicated considerable time researching and thinking key data of this universe: like the speed of mass effect FTL, distances on the Milky Way and populations and sizes for each species in the galaxy.

If you think my numbers for the Citadel races are exaggerated I should remind you the asari and salarians had two thousand years of expansions and the turians one thousand. In cannon the SA economy and population were barely above that of the Hanar's and beneath the Elcor's, in this AU humanity has several advantages: like the discovery of the Mars ruins and mass effect technology a century before cannon and the dominion of the rift gate technology, but that does not necessarily immediately puts them above races that had hundreds of years to build their space faring dominations.


	11. Chapter 10: Operation Chicxulub

**Chapter 10: ****Operation Chicxulub**

_Causa latet, vis est notissima _

"The cause is hidden, but the result is well known"

-.

**Thank you for all for your support and words of encouragement as well as your critics and observations detailing my sometimes poor writing.**

**It seems we are all in quarantine as a result of the Corona virus; well the bright side is that I have a lot of time to write.**

**-.**

ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:

**Blaze1992: **Yes he did, but I did not wanted to extend the chapter for far too long and only show short glimpses to a full scale battle detailing the glory and cruelty of war.

**The Defenestrated Typewriter: **Hope you like this chaper

**Dodles: **Thanks!

**AMW Riptide: **Thanks

**Bisaster: **Perhaps you are right, I will try to make the story a little less 'forced' and more organic with a clear plotline.

**Janne Rolfe Jalandoni: **Here it comes

**CReaper210: **Ahh one of my most loyal and eager readers, thank you for your support

-.

**2155.07.15 - Afternoon**

**HWS Spirits of Justice, Shanxi-Theta Relay**

**Banner ship of the turian joint flee**

Never in his life had Superior Admiral Justinius felt such a level of rage and frustration as the one he was feeling now, the state of the invasion was that of an undeniable catastrophe, not only the Turian legion on the surface of the planet had been decimated and its leaders captured (with General Orinia and Coronel Nuzzra classified as POWs by the human commander General Williams) but also the Citadel Council had gotten word of their non-authorized operation and was sending a Council fleet to relieve them.

It was unconceivable that these humans or terrans or whatever in the spirits they called themselves could humiliate the Empire and get away unscathed. Worst of all he could not continue with the invasion even if he wanted to, after the enemy assault on the surface's base the survivors of the Eight Legion had retreated to the ruins of Quinhai's starport on the other side as an evacuation position. They did not have the numbers, equipment or the will to continue the assault on the city, and he could not move his ships to initiate a full scale bombardment of the settlement as he needed every ship available to block the relay and prevent the arrival of human reinforcements.

The political and military prestige of the Hierarchy could be destroyed if this ended in a stalemate or worse even an abject defeat.

He could not help but curse that incompetent of Admiral Varkus for getting them into this mess; he should have waited and summon reinforcements in order to strike hard and fast, without hesitation; then the humans resistance would have been broken and they had been taught their place.

Justinius had to admit that with their technology, abilities and military power the humans could have become a substantial addition to the Citadel. But of course that spirits damned idiot of Varkus had lost his life, his fleet and has drove his people into a new war, if they lose this battle; this could all be the beginning of a new set of rachni wars.

Yet even if they defeat the human fleet located at the other edge of the relay and finally capture that damned city, with reinforcements of course, there were going to be repercussions, the Humans had been furious already but now they were emboldened by their victory over the Eight Legion; if they did not bring them into the fold, hopefully by force they could become a serious threat to all of Citadel space.

The loss of the six frigates above Shanxi had also filled his fellow officers with concern, according to the records the frigates had been destroyed from the inside, it was a plausible reality that the human's electronic warfare systems were more advanced than theirs, if they could hack the turian ships to self-destruct the coming battle could be filled by many unknown variables that left no room to anticipate the enemy strategy.

Thankfully they still had one advantage: their position, with his fleet divided into three groups' located behind-above, behind-bellow and behind-right the relay; they could open fire at any ship that came through the relay with minimum risk of enemy counter fire. Also their position prevented any type of crossfire between their ships, if the human fleet crossed the relay the turian fleet would spring the same trap the humans executed against the fool admiral Varkus.

Even if they were not going to win, they would make certain that the humans would lose as the Council fleet destined to arrive in a week time with reinforcement would secure this system and forced the humans into the negotiation table with conditions imposed by the Citadel Council.

His thoughts were interrupted when a combat alert erupted from the speakers and the lights of the hallways went into red combat light. At once he received an alert on his omni-tool, calling him to the bridge; a human fleet had apparently arrived on the system normal FTL.

He sprinted towards the bridge, the officers and crewmen clearing out of the way, allowing him to pass; when he arrived on the bridge the Captain of his banner ship was talking with the holograms of Admirals Victus and Survan.

"Admiral on deck!" an officer declared with the rest of the bridge saluting.

"Superior Admiral" Admiral Survan began. "A small flotilla of approximately 150 human ships has arrived on the edge of the system; we have just confirmed it is Admiral Su Kwon's remaining fleet" she explained.

He looked at the hologram detailing the human flotilla on the other side of the system; there were only a few ships, according to the readings their intended route was the planet of Shanxi, they were probably intending to hold a blockade to protect their colony and flank their fleet when reinforcements came through the relay.

Not taking any chances, he took command and divided his fleet into two units ordering Admiral Survan's fleet to intercept the enemy navy.

"Admiral the human dreadnought is hailing us" a comm officer informed him.

"Ignored it" he ordered. "The only thing I want to hear of that ship is its hull exploding".

-.

**SSV Lhotse, CIC**

Operation Chicxulub was a go, with the fleet divided into three units DAGGER [the remaining his ships, meant to drag the turian fleet out of the relay and putting them out of balance as a first stage]; HAMMER [the bulk of the Alliance Second Fleet under Admiral Elizabeth Comstock acting as a first wave of reinforcements for the second stage of the second stage of the operation] and ANVIL [the full might of the 5°, 6° and 11° fleet on the other side of the Shanxi-Theta relay, being the final wave to wash away any remaining turian remaining forces], this was the moment of Shanxi's liberation and Turian defeat.

"DAGGGER formation ready to begin operation" Admiral Su Kwon informed through the Quantum Entanglement Communicator.

"HAMMER standing by" Admiral Comstock's hologram informed; the second fleet on New Indus was waiting for his signal.

"ANVIL standing by" Admiral Le Fleur's hologram informed; the fifth and sixth fleets were waiting on the other side of the relay, expecting the moment to strike.

-.

**HWS Vostra, Brige**

Following the superior admiral's orders, Survan's fleet focused on the dreadnought HWS Votra with more than 300 war ships moving against the human fleet.

It was clear that odds were in their favor; while human ships were more advanced they had the numbers on their side, and they already knew most of their tricks. Yet this was not the time to underestimate the enemy; if they have learned one thing both in space and on the ground it was that the humans were very resourceful and above all they were determined. A human was not dead unless you put a bullet on its head.

The human fleet reacted to the turian ships heading to them by changing course and moving to intercept them. Admiral Survan had a bad feeling, the enemy's tactic made no sense, fighting in open space against a superior force was near suicide, she could easily order her more numerous ships to surround the small human formation and cripple them.

It was undeniable that Admiral Su Kwon was a competent commander, his strategy on System 483-72 performing a slingshot maneuver around a gas giant while firing on them was downright brilliant.

They either had a trap prepared for her fleet or they were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to weaken the turian forces protecting the relay exit, but there were more than 500 ships and 3 dreadnoughts holding the relay. Even if Admiral Justinius removed all of his forces from the relay, the humans had no way of informing their fleet on the other side, as the turian fleet had disabled every comm buoy on the system.

As they were closing distance with the enemy, the largest human ships fired the first volley, their ships having better guns and having better range. A single shot from that huge dreadnought known as the SSV Lhotse shattered one of her cruisers, its kinetic barriers doing nothing to stop the impact.

Furious she ordered her front line ships to open fire although they were far from optimal range and it was a waste of energy as they could overheat their guns before the actual battle; to her despair apparently human ships also beat turian ones in heat dispersal systems, allowing their vessels to hold combat endurance for longer.

"Assumed wall formation and prepare a short range FTL jump we are going to cut them off" she ordered; her intentions clear: using their numerical advantage at close range to cut through the human fleet, while also flanking them on both sides.

There was no risk of the humans doing the same to change position as they had already used their FTL jump to cross into the system and unless they made use of two mass effect drive cores like the asari there was little chance they could go into FTL any time soon.

In a second crossing the threshold of light speed the entirety of Survan's fleet closed distance with the enemy dissipating their blue aura of mass effect energy arriving on the side of Admiral Su Kwon's fleet, at once all ships both turian and terran turned their bodies to take aim at the enemy.

The three escort carriers' ships began deploying their compliment of fighters and corvettes, the small crafts leaving their mother ships like insects leaving their hives, with their entire frigate group converging at the front of the formation.

Separated by hundreds of thousands of miles both fleets opened fire on each other, with their respective cruisers firing their long range mass accelerator cannons, projectiles crossing the void at hyper speeds. Meanwhile both squadrons of fighters and frigates accelerated their engines at maximum to intercept each other; Turians had the numbers but the human squadron had the better ships and with corvettes and frigates ready to intercept the enemy attack ships with their advance tracking guardian arrays.

In all sides the cruisers kinetic barriers flared as the shots reached their targets while the frigates and attack ships were small and agile enough to avoid long range fire. Reaching attack range the fighters opened fire against their counterparts; human corvettes spread out in several formations and opened fire with their ion laser point defense cannons, wing after wing of turian fighters was being blinked out of existence by them. The fight between human and turian fighters was more balanced, the first were larger and more resilient but the second had a higher level of maneuverability.

Soon the squads of frigates reached each other, the leading human frigates opened fire with the Tiamat cannons destroying the leading turians frigates as the rest of them unleashed their entire payload of disruptor torpedoes against the enemy.

In military school they taught her that ship mobility dominates space combat; the primary objective is to align the mass accelerator along the bow with the opposing vessel's broadside. Battles typically play out as artillery duels fought at ranges measured in thousands of kilometers, though assault through defended mass relays often occur at "knife fight" ranges as close as a few dozen kilometers.

Most ship-to-ship engagements are skirmishes between patrol vessels of cruiser weight and below, with dreadnoughts and carriers only deployed in full-scale fleet actions. Battles in open space are short and often inconclusive, as the weaker opponent generally disengages.

Admiral Survan adopted an attack wall formation attempting to maximize the fire on the enemy fleet using their superior numbers to their advantage. To her surprise the human flotilla was turning their bows from the angle of the turian fleet (something unconceivable as the main mass accelerator guns equipped in frigates, cruisers and dreadnoughts were spinal mounted and the efficiency of a 'long range engagement' between fleets was to continue firing from their main guns on the enemy).

_What are they doing? There are not eezo build up readings; they can't disengage from the battle._

-.

**SSV Lhotse, CIC**

"Admiral Su Kwon, tactical formation around our carriers ready" the captain of the dreadnought informed him.

"Rift gate siphon generators all green and on point" his chief engineer informed him. "Are you certain about this tactic admiral; some people may say you are clinically insane for doing this" she added.

"I am certain captain Nagata; I know the limitations of the rift jump syphon and we are making every jump count" he answered smiling.

_This is going to give the turians one hell of a surprise, it is a shame I cannot see the face of Admiral Justinius right now; but to be fair turian faces are not very expressive._

-.

**HWS Vostra, Brige**

"Admiral the human carriers' energy readings are going off the scale, they seem to be deploying a device of unknown nature" the scan technician tried to explain, to the confusion of the bridge crew and the admiral. "Energy readings are showing an increase of gravitational forces, like gravity well near the human fleet"

"Multiple anomalous gravitational anomalies detected 200 miles at the stern of our fleet" another technician reported.

To the confusion of the entire bridge, the holographic table began showing six wormholes like anomalies in the space of the battle: three located right in front of the human fleet and three opening behind the turian fleet. To the shock of the entire room, mass accelerator shots from the human ships went through the anomaly and emerged right at the other side, hitting a few of the turian vessels right behind the formation.

Maintaining formation around their carrier the human cruisers and heavy cruisers crossed the anomalies and appeared right behind the turian fleet, the anomalies collapsing behind them. As soon as they emerged they opened fire with their entire arsenal including their heavy cruiser's Tiamat cannons over her fleet.

_Spirits be damned, they are using some kind of wormhole device to perform a short range FTL jump in order to assume a better firing position._

Admiral Survan had studied a similar tactic on the academy, Asari capital ships like the Destiny Ascension generally had a hole on their center because they had two drive cores, unable to contain the power of both mass effect cores interacting one with the other, the asari left the center of their ships as an empty hollow where a storm of dark energy and eezo particles was contained.

While this was expensive and in some cases extremely unpractical it provided the asari ships with a considerable edge: the ability to jump through FTL from one system to another using one drive core, attack as hard and efficient as possible then retreat before the situation could turn against them using the second drive core while the first was recharging. This was the base of the Asari space combat doctrine, hit and run attacks.

Turians didn't use this method but Hierarchy's admirals and officers were trained to perform short range FTL jumps in order to close distance with an enemy fleet or assume a better position. It was clear that the humans had arrive into the system using normal mass effect FTL jump so as they could then use those wormholes to bypass her formation and close range with the enemy.

In the mere seconds that passed since the anomaly closed, the entire Human fleet had begun to open fire on the turian warship's sterns, the dreadnought Lhotse destroying several cruisers each with a single shot of its heavy tiamat cannons. Dozens of ships had been lost, and Survan's mandibles clenched together in frustration for the loss of so many good turians, she was hopping that this tactic would not last, her fleet was changing formation and they were beginning to return fire.

"Admiral we are reading another gravitational anomaly on our fleet starboard side" the scan technician informed.

"What?" she asked.

Before the crewman could answer, another set of six rift anomalies were opened with three again in front of the human carrier and fleet and the others on the starboard side of the turian fleet. Just like they did before the human fleet crossed the wormhole and emerged right on the flank of the turian fleet, all anomalies quickly vanished.

_Spirits!? They are changing position in the blink of an eye using their wormholes to avoid fire of our cruisers axial guns and redeploying themselves at the best firing positions against the turian ships. Not to mention they know just where to hit, redeploying themselves above and behind the turian ships, carefully aiming their most vulnerable subsystems._

Before her fleet could even regroup, the human fleet once again jumped from their position at the Turian fleet's bow, destroying or crippling the turian ships at a terrifying rate.

-.

**HWS Unification, Superior Admiral Justinius banner ship**

"Admiral!" the com officer shouted. "The human fleet has summoned those anomalies again, we believe their carrier ships are the ones with the wormhole device".

"Multiple casualties in Admiral Survan's formation" another officer informed. "50 cruisers destroyed or disabled".

In the bridge, with the holographic display of the battle, Admiral Justinius and the hologram of Admiral Victus stared at it with concern and frustration.

"Enough with this" Admiral Justinius declared. "I am moving the bulk of the fleet to deal with these spirits damned humans" admiral Justinius informed.

"What about the human fleet on the other side of the relay?" admiral Victus asked. "If we abandon our position they could overwhelm us upon crossing the Shanxi-Theta Relay" Victus added.

"We destroyed the com buoys of this system; the humans cannot inform their fleet of our position, if we don't deal with them now that fleet could shatter our forces."

"What if the humans can inform their fleet of our movements, losing our dreadnoughts and our capital ships would cripple our remaining forces"

"They won't! Because we will destroy them before they do! And I am not losing any more Turian brothers and sisters because of that damned Admiral Su Kwon and his fleet" the admiral declared.

"Stay in reserve with your forces Admiral Victus; guard the relay" the superior admiral ordered.

Despite the protests of Admiral Victus the main fleet centered on the HWS Unification and the HWS Invictus assumed formation and performed a short range FTL jump to a position 500 kilometers at the starboard of the remains of Admiral Survan fleet and the last position of the human fleet.

It was a good tactic, the bulk of the fleet and its two dreadnoughts on one side, the remaining 11° fleet ships on the other and the humans in the middle; if the humans were to remain on that position both turian flotillas could converge on them in a pincer move and if they jump to the flank of one of the flotillas, Admiral Justinius could use their overwhelming numbers to protect their flanks in a defensive sphere formation around his dreadnought.

As expected the human fleet summoned another wormhole and jumped right behind Admiral Justinius's fleet, with the fleet of Admiral Survan repositioning themselves to counter the enemy. Justinius's mandibles flexed in a smile, he had predicted the enemy's move; but his relieve lasted less than a second.

"Admiral we are detecting another anomaly on vector 60 degrees from the 11° fleet" the scan officer shouted. "This one if far larger than the other, energy readings are off the scale!"

"Impossible! The carrier ships have not summoned any other portal…" he stuttered before realizing, the carrier and its fleet were not a diversion they were the bait, and he had fallen into the trap.

-.

**SSV Lhotse**

"Turian fleet on position" Admiral Su Kwon informed through the quantum entanglement communicator. "DAGGER redeploying, now it is your turn Admiral Comstock, drop the Hammer!"

"Rifts opening, cavalry has arrived" the Lhotse's AI informed him, a smile on his holographic lips.

-.

**HWS Unification**

Admiral Justinius watched the holographic display in disbelieve glimpsing upon the opening of nearly a dozen wormhole anomalies and human ships coming out of them. Fighters, corvettes, frigates, cruisers, carriers, dreadnoughts and one of those almost two kilometers long super dreadnoughts.

The admiral in him was saying this was over, he had little chance to defeat so many ships in open combat but the turian in him was refusing to give up.

He sent a message to Admiral Victus ordering him to move his fleet from the relay to converge with his and Admiral Survan's. Victus made no protest as it was clear that the humans had another mean of FTL other than mass effect drives and have arrived on the system without using the relay.

"Patch me into the entirety of the fleet" he ordered, the comms officer obeyed but displayed clear concern and fear on his manners, the rest of the bridge seemed to share his fears.

He took a deep breath as he prepared himself to address every sailor and officer on his fleet.

"My turian brethren, soldiers of Palaven" he began. "The enemy fleet has arrived intending to push out of this system. We have lost countless brothers and sisters already at the hands of these barbarian aliens known as humans; we will be prudent in retreating now, but the spirits of our comrades demand vengeance, demand justice" he made a pause, as every ship on the fleet moved into attack formation.

"What we thought to be a primitive race ignorant of galactic order and law has turned up to be a dangerous enemy, a giant we may have awoken from his slumber" he made a new pause, already both fleets were starting to exchange fire separated by thousands of miles of space. "If we don't stop them now in this system the strength of our enemy will be turned against Palaven and the Citadel. We must hold them here and break their fleet to give the Council time to prepare; no matter how many of us fall today, every human ship we take is a thousand turian lives saved from their wrath; one less colony threatened" he declared.

"Fight as one for we are turians, the shield and blade of the civilized galaxy, we defeated the krogan; we will not be beaten by these hairless pyjacks. For our fallen, for the Citadel, FOR PALAVEN!" he shouted.

"FOR PALAVEN" was repeated all across the fleet.

-.

**SSV Tesla, Alliance Fleet Carrier, Flagship of the Second Fleet**

"Alliance ships move in! Cover Admiral Su Kwon's forces" ordered Admiral Elizabeth Comstock from the CIC of his flagship, the SSV Tesla one of the largest and most advanced fleet carriers of the terran navy. "Deploy attack fighters" she ordered.

"HAMMER in position admiral" captain Dmitri Sapkowski informed him.

"Assume attack pattern Theta, focus heavy fire on the cruisers, NICOLA upload the enhanced strategy and tactics to every squadrons and coordinate all units" she ordered. "Avoid heavy fire on the dreadnoughts I want their commanders alive" she sentenced.

-.

**HWS Spirits of Justice, banner ship of the turian 11° fleet under Admiral Victus**

Victus watched in disbelieve as the newly arrived human fleet that had emerged through those wormhole like anomalies unleashed its firepower on Justinius and Survan's fleets; his ships unmoving holding their orders to guard the relay.

They stood now equal in number to their forces and those three dreadnoughts like the SSV Lhotse made honor to their size, their mass accelerator cannons were breaking through the barriers of every turian cruiser they fire upon. The frigates and attack ships accelerated and unleashed all of their missiles, cannons and energy weapons on the front line cruisers. The ships of Admiral Justinius were being blinked out of existence, without even the time to return fire.

Worse still the surviving ships of Admiral Survan fleet had been left out of position with the main fleet blocking their line of fire.

He was preparing to move his fleet to aid his fellow admirals.

"Sir" one of the officers called in distress. "The Vostra has been disabled by human attack fighters, Admiral Survan is abandoning ship" he explained.

That was the last straw; he knew he needed to act now.

"All ships converge on the Spirits of Justice we are going to perform a short range FTL jump and support the fleets of Admiral Justinius and Survan" he ordered through the intercom.

The cruisers broke the formation and the frigates moved to the side in order to perform the short jump formation with the banner ship at the front acting as the tip of the spear.

-.

**SSV Tesla**

"DAGGER and HAMMER in position admiral" the AI of the ship declared. "The turians had taken the bite; hook, line and sinker; and some of the rood as well" the AI joked.

"Admiral Le Fleur, the turians have cleared the relay; move the fleet, let's end this. Deploy ANVIL" Admiral Comstock ordered.

-.

**HWS Spirits of Justice**

"Oh No!" the scan officer nearly shouted. "We have activity on the relay" he informed.

Admiral Victus grabbed the rail of the command table so hard that his talons left deep scratches on the metal. At the holographic display, the ring of the mass relay begun turning faster and faster before coughing out in bright blue energy dozens and then hundreds of human attack fighters, then dozens of frigates and several cruisers.

He looked back to the moment Admiral Su Kwon's fleet arrived at the system, they had done exactly what the humans wanted, in an incredible display of coordination and planning the human fleet had force them out of their defensive formation trapped them between the talon and the wall and called upon perhaps the entirety of their navy to cripple their forces.

With haste his ships attempted to return to a defensive formation and began firing on the enemy ships, unfortunately the human vessels even the slow heavy cruisers had also managed to turn and were beginning to return fire with their axial guns, covering those ships that haven't crossed the relay and turn around yet.

For the moment he was still in possession of the numerical advantage, but the human fighter and corvette squadrons were making some critical damage on his ships, unleashing their torpedoes on his cruiser line and hunting down his few remaining fighters, as he had sent most of them to aid Admiral Survan's fleet. He had the entirety of his frigates to intercept them in order to protect his cruisers and to thin out their numbers, but it was not enough and the human frigates had proven to be as dangerous as their cruisers.

The situation took a turn for the worse when a group of carriers emerged from the relay with their respective squadrons, instead of turning to face his formation, the five carriers summoned each a wormhole like the ones under Admiral Su Kwon had done it. Before his crew was able to pin point their exit location, two of the squadrons emerged from the back of the formation with their guns aiming at their sterns; two more at his starboard flank and the last his port side.

"Admiral… we are surrounded" his captain informed him, dread upon his voice.

He was right they had no angle of exit to even disengage and make an FTL jump.

As he looked at the holographic display seeing his fleet being decimated and now being fired from all sides with no room to maneuver, a single shot from a human heavy cruiser impacted his ship, everyone tumbled as the ship was shaken, and consoles and energy relays overloaded and exploded throwing sparks all around the bridge. The holographic table blinked as three new giant anomalies appeared above his formation spitting each two human dreadnoughts and one super dreadnought.

The six dreadnoughts opened fire as soon their bows had passed through the anomaly shattering every cruiser or frigate they fire upon with a single shot of their axial guns. The rest of their cannons proved to be not as deadly but just as accurate. The super dreadnoughts instead began releasing the entirety of their payload of attack ships and torpedoes, with the Gardian arrays of his ships being overwhelmed by the number of targets coming towards them.

His fleet was being torn to pieces and with the arrival of the human capital ships his chances of victory were null.

A thousand thoughts ran through his mind as he watched both his and Admiral Justinius fleet being decimated, taking a deep breath he made an order that may forever curse him for all of turian history.

"Hail the human fleet" he ordered to the com officer, who looked at him confused then he activated the intercom to the entire fleet.

"This is admiral Victus, all ships, cease fire, we surrender" his tone was empty and exhausted almost the one of a dead man, if turian ships had a throne like a captain's chair he would have collapsed into it.

First the Turian guns fall silent and then the humans, for the very first time since the Krogan rebellions a Turian commander has surrendered to an enemy.

-.

On the other edge of the system the situation was far from over. The remnants of admiral Justinius and survan's fleet had performed a short range FTL jump into a position at 45 degrees from the human attacking fleet, flanking them while also assembling their two remaining active dreadnoughts and ships in a single formation, giving admiral Justinius fleet a more leveled playground.

Unlike the battle of the Shanxi-Theta relay which was an almost 'knife fight' at medium and close-range. In the battle at the Fujian-Alpha system's edge each fleet was separated by thousands of miles from each other making it a long range artillery engagement, with the dreadnoughts becoming the central piece of the battle. With their cannons continuously firing for almost an hour, heat has started to build up within the hull of all vessels, forcing some of the ships to cease fire and vent heat, in order to avoid cooking their crews alive.

In the empty space between the fleets, 'dog fighting' between the smaller ships was taken place. Surviving Turian squadrons fought without rest to protect their capital ships from enemy bombers.

Admiral Survan's banner ship the Vostra has been destroyed, forcing her to abandon ship in an escape pod and Admiral Victus had surrender, Justinius was the only remaining turian commander fighting.

"Sir the Invictus is sustaining heavy damage, captain Naelus is requesting support" an officer informed.

"Tell him to hold the formation and keep firing, but move a reserve cruiser squadron to cover her" he ordered.

The battle was not going well that was as clear as a shiny day on Palaven.

"Admiral, the human banner ship is hailing us" in the bridge of the HWS Unification, a crewman informed him.

"Open the channel" he ordered, as requested the hologram of a human female about Commodore Meltzer age or older appeared on the display, unlike the Commodore, this female was brunette with blue eyes similar to the ones of an Asari, and a clear aura of authority on her person.

"This is Admiral Elizabeth Comstock of the Terran Alliance's navy" she stated. "Admiral Victus and his fleet have surrendered, do the same; no one else has to die today."

"I am Superior Admiral Justinius of the Turian Hierarchy's fleet, and we shall not surrender to you human!" he stated with disdain.

"Enough people have died Admiral Justinius" the human admiral declared with conviction. "Our fleets have arrived, you are outnumbered and outgunned admiral, surrender at once or I will order the rest of my ships to converge on your position and decimate your fleet."

"NO! This is just the beginning human, your victory here means nothing; my people will never stop. We will call upon our allies and you will see as the full might of the Citadel comes down of your Earth!" he sentenced before cutting off the transmission.

"All ships cover the Unification" she ordered through the intercom.

"Helmsman prepare for a short range jump to the outer relay" he ordered to the confusion of her entire bridge crew. According to the readings the drive core has had enough time to recharge.

"Admiral?" the helmsman asked, with clear indignation at his commanding officer. "Are we abandoning our fleet?"

"We have no choice lieutenant, it is clear we have awoken a sleeping giant, if we do not bring the data of this battle to the Hierarchy and Council, the humans will be able to invade Citadel space, with certain advantage" he explained.

"Then we should our frigates through the relay, while we cover their retreat" the captain of the ship suggested.

"No, we cannot let the humans capture or destroy another Turian dreadnought" he answered. "We will face the consequences of our actions and I will accept the judgment of our people for this failure, but I swear on all spirits that we will survive and return home" he stated.

For a moment no one said anything finally accepting the admiral's judgment with the Turian way of thinking inside them reminding them that he was their superior and his orders were final; even though it seems like he was sacrificing the entire fleet to save himself.

Soon the Turian cruisers formed up around the dreadnought protecting it with their bodies, by being unable to fire their main guns soon a few then dozens of Turian ships ended being blown apart by heavy human fire, yet they did not break their defensive pattern.

-.

**SSV Marcus Aurelius, Commodore Meltzer's escort carrier**

"Commodore the Turian fleet is breaking formation, they appear to be converging on a defensive shield around their flagship" lieutenant Hackett informed Commodore Meltzer on the CIC of the Marcus Aurelius.

"What are they doing?" she asked MARCOS, the hologram of the AI blinked his eyes and calculated the most probable strategies and moves.

"Their vector of direction points to the coordinates of the Lambda-Zodiac relay. Most probable course of action is a high risk retreat" he answered.

"So are they escaping? Arrogant cowards" Hackett said, as the commodore contacted their Admiral.

"Admiral Comstock, the Turian fleet is…" she said.

"Fleeing I know, they may be attempting to cover their flagship's escape; I am moving my ships to intercept them, but I doubt we may be able to prevent Admiral Justnius' retreat." She answered.

Commodore Meltzer look to the holographic display of the battle, watching all the wreckage from their ships, how many lives had been lost in this battle. How many more would have to die if Admiral Justinius was allowed to escape and return with reinforcements.

"Yeahh" Commodore Meltzer said with impatience, before adopting a more serious tone. "They want to escape… **I don't think so!**"she declared with conviction. "MARCOS can we perform another short range rift jump?"

"We have enough energy for another jump Commodore, why?" he asked.

"**They are not getting away**" she declared. "We are blocking their path to the relay; calculate a trajectory to intercept the enemy fleet."

The entire CIC froze in place but no matter what thoughts crossed their minds, they look at their commodore and stood ready to follow her orders.

"I would not suggest this tactic, Lillian, but I will defer to your judgment" Admiral Comstock stated. "Do what you must" she said as the hologram vanished.

"Without a gravity well anchor, the coordinates for the rift exit would not be precise, Commodore" MARCOS informed her.

"Understood, just positioned us in front of that fleet" she ordered, before turning to the intercom. "Commonwealth's ships formed on the Aurelius prepared for one last rift jump" she ordered.

-.

**HWS Unification**

"Admiral the human fleet is surrounding us, multiple casualties around the formation" his captain stated.

"Maintain course, we are leaving this spirits damned system" he ordered.

"Admiral!" the scan officer shouted. "Wormhole anomaly located right in front of us" he informed.

_So they want to block out path, they are tenacious I will give them that._

"Change course, take us to the anomaly; prepare our main gun; target the rift and anything that comes out of it" he ordered.

The Unification and her escort turn to the opening rift at high speed just as Commodore Meltzer's ship and fleet emerged from it, at their top speed, less than a mile from the turian fleet.

-.

In the CIC of the SSV Marcus Aurelius the atmosphere was of pure tension like if a bomb was about to blow up.

"Commodore we have emerged too close and the Turian fleet has turned to intercept us" the synthetic voice of MARCOS betrayed a never before seen worry that border panic. "We are on a collision course!"

**"Evasive maneuvers! NOW!"** she ordered, as they were a mere few hundred meters from the turian flagship.

"Oohhhh… Shit" exclaimed Steven Hackett.

-.

"FULL STARBOARD NOW!" Admiral Justinius ordered.

"THEY INTENT TO RAM US! THEY ARE CRAZY!" shouted another officer.

"THIS IS THE CAPTAIN" the CO of the dreadnought Unification shouted through the intercom. "BRACE FOR IMPACT"

The Turian dreadnought and the Human escort carrier engaged their frontal thrusters and attempted to move out of each other paths, yet it was too late, both ships had burned their main thrusters hard in order to intercept each other.

The bird shape dreadnought measuring more than 900 meters long and the kilometer long whale shape human carrier made some last second evasive maneuvers, yet a second later both of them 'scrapped' each other's starboard lines with a force of several thousand tons. The sheering force of the acceleration over the mass of their metallic hulls shattering against each other overwhelmed each ship's inertial dampeners, crewmen and equipment alike were fling across the hallways and rooms with consoles, conduits and bulkheads breaking apart in pieces.

In an instance chaos gave way to silence for those crewmen unfortunate enough of being sucked in by the empty void, their bodies frozen and broken floating around the wreckage of their vessels. More dead husks of a bloody battle between a long lasting empire and an emerging superpower.

The Turian dreadnought's right wing was torn from its body cutting a third of the ship, meanwhile the starboard line of the Aurelius saw its armored hull ripped apart, venting several decks into space.

As both ships passed away from each other the exchange of shots between both fleets was stopped, a general order of surrender came from Admiral Victus and an order of cease fire came from Admiral Comstock; yet in the center of the turian fleet the HWS Unification and the SSV Marcus Aurelius were death in the water; with no orders coming from the officers on each ship.

-.

In the CIC of the SSV Aurelius sparks were coming out of every console and power node, some of the crewmen were unconscious as the violent impact of both ships had hit them like a car crash.

Commodore Meltzer rose on all fours, aided by another crewman. Next to her the hologram of MARCOS flickered and appeared.

"Commodore we have sustained heavy damage, but the Turian fleet has surrendered and the enemy flagship has been disabled" the voice of MARCOS betrayed only concern. "You should check on Lieutenant Hackett" he pointed to the wounded officer next to her.

"Steven? Are you okay?" she asked as she kneeled next to him, Lieutenant Steven Hackett had a long slash across his face located beneath the right eye, blood oozing from the wound, covering his face.

_Nasty wound, it is definitely going to leave a scar_

"I am fine Commodore" he answered attempting to get up. "What is our status?"

She looked back to the flickering holographic table, where the Alliance's fleet had assumed a defensive formation around the silent turian warships, they have done it.

"Well" she began. "Looks like we won" she answered with an ironic smile on her face.

-.

**Quinhai, Shanxi's Capital**

When six Alliance frigates and one cruiser descended into the upper atmosphere of the planet on a low orbit over Quinhai followed by hundreds of fighters, corvettes and dropships the whole colony erupted in cheers. The news that the terran joint fleet had crushed the turian fleet went through every computer terminal and data-tool.

They had won, the siege was over.

Fresh troops of the Alliance Marine Corps and Alliance colonial army descended on the city, to the cheers and celebratory shouts of the garrison, militia and remaining civilian population. Both groups shared handshakes and hugs as they celebrated their victory and the end of their struggle.

The remaining turian troops scattered across the area surrounding the city mostly surrendered without further protest, they knew that surrender was the best course of action, yet some of them refuse to give up and had to be rounded up and destroy.

Commodore Lillian Meltzer who had led the first space battle against the turians and Rear Admiral Su Kwon who had fought against an enemy fleet that surpassed his own forces four to one were received as heroes by the soldiers and people of Shanxi. The two fleet officers were awarded with the Star of Terra an honor shared by General Williams the CO of Quinhai's garrison, who also received the Legion of Honor for his bravery and service.

Captain Brandon Dewitt of the N7 team Delta 01 as well as several distinguished officers like Corporal Oleg Petrovsky received the Rearden black Cross for their actions on the defense of Quinhai.

Lieutenant Steven Hacket of the SSV Marcus Aurelius who conceived the strategy of successive rift jumps to flank and overwhelm the turian fleet used by Rear Admiral Su Kwon was promoted to the rank of Commander and received the Navy Silver Star medal.

-.

**2 days later **

**Styx System, planet Persephone, Alliance maximum security prison**

General Desolas Arterius awoke from his drug induced sleep on an unknown concrete cell; the bed was comfortable even though mattresses and pillows did not mean much for turian carapace covered bodies.

The last thing he remembered was the cell on the garrison headquarters at the capital of Shanxi; he shared the space with several turian officers. He had been in that cell since his capture several days before at the hands of those 'black demons' N7 operatives.

There were no windows in the prison but the rations time, change of light at night-sleep hours and the rotation of the human guards, as well as the arrival of new prisoners grant him a clear perception of the passage of time.

To be fair the conditions in the prison were not bad, he was astonished to see that the humans were remarkably civil in their treatment of enemy prisoners; had they been captured by krogans or batarians they would have been nearly starved to death, tortured, mutilated, enslaved and killed; perhaps not in that order. Yet the humans were considerably gentle to their prisoners, unless of course you try to escape, in that case they beat you a bit, nursed you back to health and left you in solitary confinement for a few days, after which you were returned to a normal cell.

Every prisoner no matter his or her rank were given a ration of food once every day, the humans could not give their prisoners their own food as the humans and the planet they were on were of a levo based ecology so at first they were given turian legion field rations the humans had recovered, then when Desolas suspected the humans had most likely ran out of stolen rations they began to serve some kind of serpent like fish, which the humans assured it was suitable for their consumption.

According to the humans those morganic eels as they call them were a dextro base life form hailing from another of their colonies which had been kept in considerable numbers on Shanxi main settlement's labs for xeno biology research purposes.

Wherever they came from those eels were delicious when cooked and served, many of his fellow captive brothers and sisters were certain that when the war was over, the humans would make a killer business by exporting those eels to the Hierarchy.

That was if the war ended any time soon.

Desolas' faith in a Hierarchy's victory was rock solid as first, but the stories told by the new prisoners showed a different tale.

The place trembled a little as if an earthquake had hit them when the turian fleet in orbit resorted to bombardment of the human city; Desolas was surprised that Admiral Justinius would be willing to break the Citadel Accords in order to achieve victory, he was in agreement with that decision and now he could only hope that his forces would win and release him from this prison.

That victory never came though, the humans apparently made a massive counterattack on The Eight Legion's base, as he could see and hear by the arrival of several new prisoners including General Orinia and Coronel Nuzzra themselves. They kept the senior officers separated so he could not talk to anyone other than his subordinates and cellmates.

A few hours after the arrival of the new prisoners, their guards suddenly changed their behavior: they were shouting wildly, shocking hands, drinking and even singing; he could not understand them as they were not using universal translators. There were human officers with their blue uniforms mingling with their soldiers, all of them wearing asari like smiles on their faces.

Finally on the next day, the human guards took them out of the cells and forcefully guide them to the main plaza of the city. Upon leaving the confines of the building Desolas' eyes complained upon staring the blue skies and golden sun of Shanxi. On the plaza thousands of turian soldiers wearing only their common under cloths or prisoner garbs were standing in formation, waiting for their captors to do something; be either killing them, transporting them or releasing them. Many of the prisoners were injured, carrying burn marks, deep wounds or even missing limbs but they had been treated by human doctors and looked to be in no present danger of dying because of their wounds.

Surrounding the formation of prisoners stood thousands of heavily armed human troops, vehicles, drones and gunships. To his surprise he saw above in the sky a group of ships in low orbit, their shapes were not those of turian ship.

_That could only mean…_

"ATTENTION!" a human officer called from loud speakers, the drones hovering above them broadcasting his voice; all turians on the plaza stood up ready to hear.

"I am General George Williams, commander of the colony of Shanxi's garrison. Earlier today the Alliance fleet arrived on this system intending to push the turian fleet out, after a long bloody engagement with multiple casualties on both sides, they managed to route the turian fleet under Superior Admiral Justinius…" as he spoke murmurs and sights of concern erupted from the turians gathered at the plaza.

"It can't be…" one said.

"We have lost… what now?" another stared into the ground.

Everyone else repeated that same show of despair, their once iron discipline shattering under the weight of dread. General Arterius was livid, this was impossible, how could the fleet have been defeated. Was the navy fill with incompetents like Admiral Varkus?

The human continued to speak. "Yet thought the battle for Shanxi is over, I am afraid the war have just began, as the Alliance government has officially declared war to the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council" another wave of shock and surprise went through the assembled turians.

"As the Hierarchy has transported several human POWs to their own territory, you shall all be transfer off system as well to an Alliance military prison. As it stands following the Geneva Accords your status shall remain as POWs but you will not be mistreated only detained in one of our prisons until hopefully the war should end through a peace treaty in which you shall be released to the custody of your government".

The human general sentenced, as large transport ships descended and landed next to the plaza with their guards guiding them into the vessels, ordering them not to resist.

-.

Persephone as the humans called it was a frozen planet apparently even colder than Palaven's polar ice caps; it was one of their frontier colonies according to rumors. The wind outside was so strong and cold than the human guards had to use gas mask designed to avoid the subzero air from freezing their lungs; his comrades were certain that they would die without minutes if they tried to escape abandoning the 'safety' of the prison.

The cells were arranged in tall towers with an octagon shape with an empty space in the center a void extending for hundreds of floors; each day a platform descended, with the guards bringing the food rations for the cells. General Desolas Arterius had a room for himself alone while the rest of the prisoners were divided in two by each cell. What was more disturbing was the fact that the cell apparently moved, every day they awoke to find themselves in an entirely different floor or perhaps even an entirely different tower; so there was no way of maintaining talks with the rest of the turian prisoners and coordinating an escape becoming impossible.

The guards were also different than the human soldiers he had fought on Shanxi; they all wore all black and yellow armor, encased from head to toe in full armor plating. Their movements were coordinated and they seem to avoid mingling or openly speaking between each other or the prisoners, had their manners lacked the distinct movements of organic beings, Desolas would have thought they were synthetic mechs.

Once every seven days the prisoners were allowed to go the prison courtyard, a large open space surrounded by small gardens in which they were allowed to mingle, train and even fight amongst themselves. Yet every day one of the officers was called for an interview with the prison's interrogator, something every individual of the prison feared more than anything else.

Those interrogated had not a single scratch on their carapaces or signs of physiological or chemical torture; but their eyes showed a deep sense of lost and despair as if they have been tortured for months or seen an unimaginable level of pain. Everyone spoke of a human female with golden eyes that could look a battle hardened turian soldier in the eyes and force him to confess even the name of the asari stripper he had slept with.

Desolas was certain there were just stories and the humans may have developed an interrogation technique that left no injuries physical or physiological but was capable of breaking even a disciplined turian soul.

_Well they were not going to break his_; he though just as a guard drone hovered towards his cell and the platform on the center of the octagon descended with two human guards on top of it.

"General Desolas Arterius" they called to him. "You have been summoned to the interrogation room" they sentenced, just as a cold shiver went through his spine.

-.

**2155.07.17**

**Fujian Alpha System, orbit of Shanxi, SSV Tesla**

**Meeting of Alliance High Com**

"So, how are our prisoners?" asked Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao, commander of the Alliance first fleet and Supreme Commander of the Navy.

"We have transported most of them both Legion and fleet to the prison of Persephone" Karl Rainer the director of the ASB answered. "But a few a few of the navy senior officers have been delivered to the Erebus Nexus by request of several members of the General Assembly, they want to interview them. As for their state, most of them are in good health, at first we had substantial troubles to feed them, as they are a dextro based species while we humans are levo based. Yet as the biologists in Shanxi discovered, the turians can eat morganic eels as they come from a dextro base ecosystem".

The director of the most feared organization on Alliance Space made an ironic smile. "It was fortunate that Quinhai had such a large stock and aquarium of morganic eels as to supply the prisoners' food requirements and surprisingly enough the turians seem to enjoy them, they claim the morganic eels are a delicacy" he almost laugh at that statement.

Everyone in the room who understood that laughed, after all morganic eels hailing from a frontier colony with a dextro based ecosystem were used as organic purifiers on waste disposal systems. In short terms they ate shit and helped to purify water.

"Well jokes aside" Admiral Su Kwon intervened. "What are our options regarding our counter offensive on Citadel Space?" he asked, cutting right to the point.

Attending the meeting of the Alliance admirals, officials and generals were also the AI synthetic commander of the experimental unit of drone carriers RAZIEL and a rachni brood warrior with a lilim girl named Deborah by his side acting as representatives of the rachni brood mother queen Tisiphone who commanded the largest rachni hive fleet.

Admiral Le Fleur commander of the Alliance fifth fleet took the word, in the holographic table the shape of the Milky Way galaxy appeared with several points highlighted, detailing systems connected by the mass relays; Alliance controlled space was in a shade of light blue while the territories of the Citadel Council were in red, no matter the 'frontiers' of the different species that made up the Citadel. Two points of space were in a bright yellow being the two focal points of the operation.

"So far Alliance High Com has been working on two main battle plans following the strategies of War Plan Case Red and War Plan Case White" he began. "Battle Plan Ares which focuses on a direct attack on the turian homeworld of Palaven, using our stealth frigates to move through the relays; deploy gravity well generators in the Trebbia System and move the bulk of the fleet through the rift gates; overwhelming the turian home fleet and keeping the planet hostage in exchange of a cease fire; attempting to invade Palaven has been described as not impossible but extremely costly for our forces" he explained.

"Then we have Battle Plan Checkmate which focuses on a full scale attack on the Citadel; using the stealth frigates and rift gates to jump the bulk of the fleet into the Widow Nebula; overwhelm the Citadel Defense Fleet, taking the station through surgical precision taking the Council as prisoners and negotiate a cease fire from a position of strength".

"Both of these operations would spread fear across Citadel Space and make the Council and their members think twice before ever threaten us again" he finished.

"Yet they will completely alienate the turians and Council races against us" Admiral Comstock intervened. "If we blockade Palaven or take the Citadel we will practically make the Council's sole mission to destroy us, as they will never feel safe again until they remove us from the galactic playground" she declared.

Everyone nodded to her statement and Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao stood up and took the word.

"There is merit in your words Elizabeth but our people demand action for the deaths on Shanxi; our government wants us to carve a bloody path across Citadel Space in order to show the Citadel races the might of Earth and her colonies" he declared.

"So that is why I want to propose an alternative" she stated. "Attacking the Citadel or Palaven will overextend our supply lines and restrict our movements as they are far too deep in enemy territory even if we position rift gates on those systems. Palaven is too heavily defended, populated and in the heart of the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel has more mass relay connections than any other system in the galaxy, it would be near impossible to defend unless we find a way to shut down the relays".

"Also according to turian intelligence we recovered from their computers, there is a Council fleet assembling on the Widow Nebula intended for an assault on our space, as to force us into the negotiation table in the words of the turians" she added.

"Taking that fleet will represent a heavy blow at the Citadel's power" Admiral Su Kwon who had been promoted into full admiral for his actions on the last battles spoke. "So where should we strike Admiral Comstock? Or where we can ambush that fleet?" he asked.

"We need to secure a foothold in Citadel Space, route that flee and push the battle into turian space from where we can gain the upper hand through our more advance ships and rift gate technology" she explained as she looked at the holo table.

"Well there is a system that is located in the intersection of the territories of the turians, salarians and the Citadel itself" Admiral Sebastian Yao smiled. "The center of the Krogan DMZ, the Aralakh System" he explained imputing a set of command on the table, making zoom on the krogan home system.

The rachni brood warrior and his lilim interpreter reacted with surprise to that; the rachi queen they represented had her interest suddenly picked. Many of the officers present in the meeting were uncomfortable having a giant black bug with long tentacles in the middle of the room but they conceal it very well.

"Do you intent to recruit the krogans into our cause as well?" the lilim Deborah asked. "The rachni's feeling towards the Citadel and the krogans are conflicted, we do not blame the asari and salarians for their war against us as in that time the rachni's action were being guided by an unknown power and our own fear to a prothean resurgence; nor we feel hatred towards the krogans for executing our genocide as those who once nearly send us into silence are no slowly dying away under the strain of the genophage" she stated.

"But we owe a debt of gratitude to humanity and the Terran Alliance; if you go to war against the Citadel Council you will not be alone, my people and our navy will be honored to fight alongside you" the words of the rachni queen spoke through the voice of the lilim Deborah.

"We are thankful for that Brood mother Tisiphone" Admiral Yao nodded. "And as for the time being we are not inducting the krogans into the Alliance, they are far too disorganized, they lack a central government and they are far too aggressive and unpredictable. Taking the Aralakh System could be a first stage in an offensive against the Turian Hierarchy" he stated.

"What other objectives should our operation include?" Admiral Yao asked the AI commander RAZIEL who had considerable tactical input on the engagements and territory of the Citadel Council.

"There are two main turian colonies in the proximity of the Krogan DMZ: an attack on either of those colonies would mean a heavy blow into the turian military" the AI synthetic explained.

The holographic table switched to the display of two planets.

"Parvis Marna is a primary agriculture turian colony; there are less dextro based planets in the known space than levo based so the turians need each of their bread basket worlds in order to maintain the population of their industrial, heavy populated planets. The other colony is Haliat in the Julta System a heavy industrial planet, key center of production for the turian military complex with critical orbital docks for the Hierarchy's fleet" he made a pause. "Parvis Marna has only one relay connection and it can be easily taken and defended, while keeping a nose around the turian's supply lines. The Julta System on the other hand has many relay connections, is an strategic relay hub in turian space" the AI finished.

"So which of the systems should we attack?" Admiral Le Fleur asked.

"First thing should be to secure the Aralakh system and destroy the Council joint fleet assembling at the Citadel, that fleet would have to move into the Krogan DMZ in order to travel to the Zodiac Cluster and Shanxi afterwards. If we catch that fleet mid transit we would be eliminating the first defensive force our enemy has in the sector; then we should move into a blitzkrieg type of offensive on turian space. Once the enemy has been weakened enough we can sue for peace on a position of strength" Admiral Comstock explained as the rest of the admirals, generals and others nodded in agreement.

A single man that in contrast to the blue uniforms of the military officers present, dressed in a black elegant suit with a pin of the Alliance government in the neck stood from his seat, he was the Alliance Defense Minister, who acted under the direct orders of the PM.

"One more thing Admiral Yao" he began. "Prime Minister Natalia Ferro has authorized the use of the experimental new flagship which recently finished its construction on the docks of Hades Prime; the Dawn of Infinity" he stated to the shock of all those who knew about the experimental Uber Dreadnought.

"With all due respect to Prime Minister Ferro, that ship is not ready" Admiral Yao declared. "The last report I reviewed about the SSV Dawn of Infinity said that several subsystems are still not operational or at least not acting on optimal capabilities" he explained.

"Her rift drive, shields and primary weapons are operational" the minister countered. "And that ship is more than a weapon it is a symbol of terran might and technology; using her or at least deploying her against the turian fleet will spread fear and doubt on the hearts and minds of the Citadel races. Now is our time, we need to take the initiative, the turians attack us now is our turn to strike at them" the minister declared.

"I agree" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock stated and several officers nodded as well.

"Very well" Admiral Sebastian Yao conceded. "Let's began drawing our plans; remember we have technological superiority but our enemy has numbers, territory and hundreds of years of existence; we must not underestimate them. The following weeks and months will be critical for the development of the war which will decide the fate of the Alliance and all of mankind. We shall not end like the Inussanon, Jutens or the protheans. We will prevail" he declared to a choir of yesses and nods.

-.

**CODEX:**

**-Hawking Class Fleet Carrier:** One of the largest ships on the known galaxy the Hawking class Fleet Carrier stands as the core of every Alliance sector fleet. The vessel is 1820 meters long, carrying a crew complement of 6000. Unlike dreadnoughts the fleet carrier main offensive capability is its immense cargo of squadrons of fighters, bombers and corvettes; but the most remarkable trait of the Hawking carrier it's the experimental rift gate siphon installed on the ship, which allows the vessel to traverse enormous distances in the blink of an eye without the use of rift gates or mass relays. The absence of an eezo mass effect drive core represents both a weakness and an edge: the ship is incapable of traveling through the mass relays but it is able of moving an entire fleet by opening a rift gateway with its Lutece siphon to another system with clear coordinates; her high scale neutron-antimatter reactor gives the ship a high power output a nearly unbreakable tachyon shield.

Even though the Hawking doesn't carry large weaponry, mass accelerator or tiamat cannons, it is equipped with state of the art point defense arrays and a full cargo of advance disruptor, plasma and even tactical nuclear torpedoes. The ship also carries several fabricator and recycler facilities serving as a sort of mobile foundry for the Alliance fleet. Alliance fleet carriers are named after famous scientists and key figures of human history.

-.

**-Alliance active fleets (2155 – First Contact War):** On the eve of the First Contact War there were 12 sector wide fleets under Alliance command. Each of them meant for the protection of a cluster or sector in particular based in a central system. The largest fleets of the Alliance are the First and Second fleet tasked with the defense of Earth and the Erebus Nexus respectably:

-.

**1° Fleet:** Terran home fleet, largest active fleet on the Alliance operating in the entirety of the Local cluster for the protection of Earth, the Sol System, Chiron (Proxima Centauri) and the oldest colonies like Demeter. It is under the direct command of Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao, the commander in chief of the Terran Navy.

Base: Luna, Earth

Strength: 12 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Everest (dreadnought); SSV Aconcagua (dreadnought); SSV Carl Sagan (Fleet Carrier - flagship)

-.

**2° Fleet:** The Erebus fleet, located on the Juttenheim System, under the command of Admiral Elizabeth Comstock.

Base: Erebus Nexus

Strength: 10 human flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Klimanjaro; SSV Olympus; SSV Nicola Tesla

-.

**3° Fleet:**

Base: Hades Prime (Tartarus System)

Strength: 10 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Copernicus

-.

**4° Fleet:**

Base: Exodus Cluster, Terra Nova, Eden Prime

Strength: 8 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Fuji; SSV Namba Parbat; SSV Galileo Galilei

-.

**5° Fleet:** Commanded by Admiral Jean Le fleur

Base: Arcturus Station

Strength: 8 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Isaac Newton; SSV Mauna Kea; SSV Chimborazo

-.

**6° Fleet:**

Base: Benning, Arcturus Stream

Strength: 6 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Steven Hawking; SSV Denali; SSV Mauna Loa

-.

**7° Fleet:**

Base: Shinhon, Arcadia, Columbia

Strength: 8 human flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Robert Lutece

-.

**8° Fleet:**

Base: Praxis, Glacies

Strength: 8 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Brigit Tenembaum; SSV Makalu; SSV Vesuvius

-.

**9° Fleet:**

Base: Rialis System, Wakanda

Strength: 6 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Yi Suchong; SSV Daulagiri; SSV Mont Blanc

-.

**10° Fleet:**

Base: Noveria

Strength: 6 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Albert Einstein; SSV Logan; SSV Kinabalu

-.

**11° Fleet: **The bulk of the Eleventh fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Su Kwon fought against the joint turian fleet on Zodiac Alpha at the beginning of the First Contact War.

Base: Theta Nebula; Shanxi, Tiptree, New Indus

Strength: 6 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Da Vinci, SSV Lhotse, SSV Krakatoa

-.

**12° Fleet:**

Base: Amanecer (Hades Gamma)

Strength: 6 flotillas

Capital ships: SSV Edison

-.

**-Persephone maximum security prison:** Located in the frozen planet of Persephone in the Styx System, the prison is one of the most secretive locations of all Alliance Space and one of the central bases of operation for the ASB. Originally designed to house hardened criminals with substantial genetic or cybernetic enhancements the prison was modified on the outbreak of the First Contact War for the imprisonment of alien military prisoners.

The prison consists on dozens of tall towers containing the cells, each tower self-sustaining with a single entrance located at the top floor allowing for a platform to descend and deliver food and transportation to the prisoners. Prison guards are composed of mix units of humans and synths with random postings and guard shifts. Inspired by a sense of metabolism, cells are randomly relocated through the towers and floors as to prevent any kind of constant companionship for the prisoners and avoid discussion and planning of organize escapes or riots.

-.

**Hope you have enjoyed it, hopefully in around two weeks' time, I will have the next chapter: Wrath of terra ready for update, where we will see the Council's reaction to a massive Terran-rachni invasion of turian space.**

**Stay safe, stay healthy and most of all stay at home; until we can beat the Covid-19.**


	12. Chapter 11: Wrath of Terra

**Chapter 11: ****Wrath of Terra**

_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus_

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon"

-.

**NOTE TO READERS**: Only one chapter before the official first contact (diplomatic I mean) between the Terran Alliance and the Citadel Council. With full quarantine around the world, there is little to do other than writing and studying (to be productive I mean), hopefully I will be able to update more often.

Sorry for the long time until update but **I was out for two whole weeks by dengue fever**, so much preparation for Coronavirus and one fucking mosquito has me down for the count for several days. Be careful out there; keep yourselves safe and healthy against dengue if you live in areas with mosquito's infestation.

**-.**

**ANSWERS TO REVIEWS:**

**Guest: **Honestly, this is not the place to talk about things like Trump and his crazy politics. Trump is a clown who always wants to have the last laugh yet I am from Argentina, compared to our president or Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump actually looks smart and rational (as unbelievable as it sounds). Besides the World Health Organization is directed by an Ethiopian idiot who is not a doctor but a politician, it is filled by cheap politicians desperate to have a steady pay by doing nothing.

**OMAC001:** And where is the epic atmosphere and rhythm if there is no victory against overwhelming odds? The difference of numbers helps to show the technological and military differences and contributes to the story and characters.

**PappyOldGuy:** Thanks, I hope you enjoy this chapter

-.

**2155.07.20**

**Widow Nebula, Citadel**

**Military base on Zakera Ward**

As the air car landed on the turian military dock at the Zakera ward, Councilor Tevos removed her eyes from the data-pad containing several reports of the human's physiology, technology, military doctrines and apparent culture. The car's door opened as her bodyguard the asari council specter Tela Vasir signaled for Tevos to follow her. The veteran spectre was also surprised by the unnerving resemblance of the humans to asari physiology.

Tevos felt uneasy, it had been a while since the last report from Admiral Justinius's fleet on the occupied human system of Fujian-Alpha. They had either gone rogue completely or the human reinforcements on the other side of the relay have annihilated them, she could not decide which alternative was worse.

As the salarians would say the most valuable resource at the beginning of a war was information, it had taken a while but she and her fellow councilors have managed to convince the turian primarch of bringing pieces of human technology, corpses and even prisoners. Knowing as much as possible about the humans would provide a much needed inside on the new players at the galactic board.

Her colleagues were waiting for her on the main hall, Prateus talking with the base commander, around them turian soldiers were posted in every entrance, as if preparing for an attack, but Tevos knew that they were trying to not only stop people for coming in but also to stop their prisoners from escaping. A dozen or so human prisoners had been brought there, soldiers and military officers captured on the planet known as Shanxi. Technically speaking it was against Citadel Conventions to keep captive alien sentient beings from not recognized nations without a formal declaration of war against the other government, but there were technicalities and loopholes that allowed the confinement of new undiscovered aliens on first contact cases.

Tevos flanked by her colleagues Prateus and Eshael as well as the Spectre Vasir was guided to the base morgue where the human bodies were kept, as well as several other captured items from the siege of Shanxi.

"We are keeping the prisoners on the lower cells in order to prevent the other prisoners, normal criminals from seeing them" the turian coronel in charge of the base explained. "Keeping them isolated is now the priority yet containing them has proven difficult" the coronel said his gaze on the ground.

"What do you mean Coronel?" the spectre Tela Vasir asked. "A couple of primitives barely a few decades of their homeworld as best are too much trouble for you?" the asari asked in an arrogant tone, Tela Vasir as one of the oldest and most capable specters had developed a considerable arrogant contempt for any alien that wasn't a member of a council race.

People often said that her father must have been an extremely arrogant turian or a really stupid batarian; she was definitely not a pure blood as she was not that deranged.

The Coronel glare on the spectre silenced her completely; Turians looked like birds of prey when angered. "You will see it for yourselves very soon Operative Vasir, the humans on our custody have already displayed biotic powers unlike anything I have ever seen; one of their small pistols is better than one of our most advanced riffles and they are remarkable smart according to our interrogators" the coronel explained admiration yet uncertainty filling his deep voice.

The council members and the spectre exchanged looks; this was starting to be more interesting than expected.

-.

The morgue of the base was a cold space even though ambient temperature had been increased to adapt to the commodity of the guests, Tevos filled a chill through her skin and Eshael the salarian councilor was clearly feeling the cold, but Prateus, the coronel and the spectre either felt no cold or refused to show weakness in front of them.

The doctor of the base was a female turian in a white lab coat, suitable for working in low temperatures. She opened one of the cabinets revealing a completely naked human corpse; the individual was or more accurately had been a male, with dark skin, considerable muscular development by seeing his legs, torso and arms; at the athletic level of a drell assassin perhaps even. In his chest several puncture wounds stood; mass accelerator rounds had pierced his flesh and killed him instantly, on the hips between his legs stood what were most likely the reproductive organs.

As they were still observing the first corpse the doctor opened another cabinet, revealing another corpse, this one had been a female, Tevos and Vasir blinked several times, morphologically speaking, the individual was a nearly identical to a genetic mix of an asari and a quarian female. The female had pink pale skin, beautiful also asari like brown eyes, long black fur growing on her head and between the legs. This species was clearly by-gendered, with males and females; several differences could be observed: the females were shorter, having breast protrusions on their chests, the males had hair growing from on their faces and looked to be physically stronger than females; they were mammals for certain, pretty similar to the quarians. Tevos was old enough to remember how the suit rats looked underneath them.

"The skin coloration?" Eshael interrupted. "It is an indication of gender differences?" she asked.

"No" the doctor answered. "Most of the males and females captured had a predominant pink skin; the brown skin is most likely a genetic difference between racial groups; like asari and salarian skin tones" she explained.

"Surprisingly enough by analyzing the different test subjects we have discovered a tremendous genetic difference between them. Superior to any other sentient species discovered so far" the doctor added. "It is clear that these humans evolved in a planet with changing weather and multiple ecosystems" she sentenced before adopting a more serious gaze.

"As for the species itself, their appearance is certainly deceiving" the doctor explained activating an holographic display showing the corpses with their organs, veins, muscles, bones and nerves.

"They evolved in gravity lower than that of Palaven but certainly a little bit higher than that of Thessia or Sur'Kesh. Their bones are incredible strong we found traces of carbon fiber density, with a development far too perfect to be caused by genetic engineering"

"Muscle development especially in males in remarkable; they are not as fast as a salarian or strong as a turian; but they are faster than the last and stronger than the first"

"Their homeworld must have suffered tremendous climate changes as they have a heat dispersal and containment organism, superior to any Citadel race. They can tolerate high or low temperatures far better than any of us" the doctor then pointed to the brain displayed in the hologram.

"Their brains are not too different to those of most sentient species; they most likely evolved as collectors or scavengers as their sense of smell is very underdeveloped; their sight is limited clearly lacking any nocturnal improved sight but it is certainly précised and evolved to allow for a clear perception of details in good light and changes in patterns or shapes"

"As for their cerebral capabilities, it certainly varies by the individual. The male human is in possession of average intelligence by turian or salarian standards; but the female's brain has remarkable neural pathways, clearly showing signs of superior intelligence, senses and eidetic memory on the level of a drell or salarian. Before you ask councilors, no, it is not a gender based trait, some of the males and other females also show this kind of superior intelligence" the doctor made another pause, zooming on the hologram to the arms of both humans.

"And as for the most intriguing trait" she started. "Almost all of the humans' corpses and the prisoners have shown remarkable biotic like powers; that most likely are related to these neural nodules located on their limbs. Reports of control over static electricity, fire and field of negative heat had been reported on the engagements on Shanxi; while a particular substance unlike anything I have ever seen has been found on the human's bloodstream" the doctor explained showing a flask containing a blue fluid that almost glowed when putting it to the light.

"It's like liquid unrefined eezo contained within a saline solution" the doctor explained. "And it is certainly the 'fuel' to the neural nodules generating the human anomalous powers. The humans apparently call the solution EVE" she finally sentenced looking more serious than ever staring at Tevos and then at Vasir with a conflicted look.

"Yet the most distressing and perhaps puzzling trait of the humans is something else" he made a pause.

"Councilors you may want to sit down for this" he suggested as he made a pause waiting for the three councilors, the spectre and coronel to take a seat. And to the surprise of the Council members and the specter, the turian doctor activated a command on his console changing the hologram to the representation of two strands of DNA, clearly in comparison to one another.

"Councilor Tevos, we have just finished mapping the human DNA and as protocol states it, we have made a general comparison to every sentient species on records. This method serves to better integrate new species into the medical services and society as well as discover any potential the new race could offer to the rest of the species: immunity to diseases or better adaptation to other environments for example. Yet the human DNA shares several strands in common with the asari DNA" the doctor made a pause to the shocked faces of the citadel council while Tevos and Vasir exchanged looks.

"I don't know how to explain this but the humans are in simple terms some kind of genetic cousins of the asari. And no, the possibilities of this being the result of similar evolutionary conditions are far off the scale. Besides this explains much of the similarities between the species: human females are nearly identical to a normal asari; the reproductive systems in the mitochondrial cells and womb are very similar; the distribution of internal organs is almost a perfect match and just like the asari, the humans are for certain a species naturally adept to biotics" she finally sentenced.

"This cannot be…" Spectre Tela Vasir exclaimed nearly out of breath.

"I have made several tests, all confirmed the same Specter Vasir" the doctor explained; Prateus and the turian coronel exchanged looks of equal parts concern and fascination; Eshael's face stood impassive as ever yet her eyes shone with curiosity while looking at the DNA comparison, as for Tevos…

"Doctor" she began. "Have you informed any of your superiors of this?" she demanded to know.

"No" for now this information has been restricted to only those present in this room.

"Keep it like this, for now; until the Council says otherwise" she ordered standing from her seat and moving to abandon the morgue with her colleagues, the base coronel and bodyguard following her.

Once back in the hallway; she had a brief discussion with her fellow councilors and the coronel who agreed to keep this piece of information confidential.

-.

There were more many guards watching the entrance to the prison area of the base than those stationed near the morgue or entrance. The panoptic kept a watchful eye on all the cells located in that row, no more than two human prisoners shared each cell, yet the prisoner they were going to interrogate had already been transferred to a private interrogation room.

As protocol instructed it was the specer Tela Vasir the one who was going to conduct the official interrogation while the Council was to watch through the cameras. A human officer known as Lieutenant Drake was tied to a stretcher, arms and legs bound together while eyes continuously scanned the room, looking around him, perhaps seeking for any mean of escape or waiting for anything.

Vasir and two turian soldiers entered through the door and the asari specter took a seat looking at the bound human prisoner.

"State your name, rank and designation" she ordered in a professional tone, it was remarkable of Vasir to avoid showing any trace of emotion or curiosity upon laying eyes on a new alien.

"Lieutenant Richard Drake; Terran Alliance Colonial Guard; service number 4729-AC-5682; assigned to the colony of Shanxi" the human answered in a completely relaxed tone, despite his situation.

"Do you know where you are?" Vasir asked.

"Considering you are an asari and judging by your uniform you appear to be a high ranking officer perhaps one of those specters…" the human made a pause as in the next room the councilors exchanged gazes, Vasir's face remained without change. "I would say I am on the Prothean imperial capital station, what you call the Citadel; am I not?"

"Prothean imperial capital?" Vasir asked, adopting a judging stare. "So your species has found records of the protheans? Interesting, I will at least answer your question, you are on the Citadel, seat of the Council; the maximum authority on the civilized galaxy. Your government has been very eager in ending this war before it could truly begin and end badly for them and your entire species; after all your species has practically declared war on one of their members the Turian Hierarchy not to mention the unauthorized activation of a dormant mass relay linking with our space…" Vasir declared lying through her teeth.

"Ohh yes, your punishment for a law we knew nothing about, that is if we care at all and I hardly doubt that my government would be eager for any lasting peace between us. The last news I saw before my capture spoke about the preparation of our fleet and allies for a massive war with the turians…" the human answered not flinching even when Vasir made a show of her biotics in her hands as an intimidation and put her sharp gaze on the prisoner.

"So eager for conflict, are all the members of your species like this? Describe your government; it is the central authority of your whole species? Where is your homeworld and how many colonies do you have?" Vasir asked now looking more interested.

"The Terran Alliance is the supreme government of Earth, the human homeworld and all our colonies, we have hundreds of colonized worlds and thousands of war ships; we are ready for war; are you?" the human declared with conviction.

_Hundreds of colonies?_ He must be bluffing.

"Newcomer species are always the same, thinking they are special, invincible and that they will claim the galaxy for their own, yet in the end that arrogance always cost them; you better answer my questions" she added.

"Then at least release my cufflinks" the human said looking at his bondages. "If I wanted to escape, this is not the time or place, let me speak with dignity" he stated.

In that moment a general alarm sounded on every omni tool, something was happening. On the observation room, the councilors exchanged gazes of deep concern looking at the message.

_Alien fleet sighted and engaged on the Aralakh System; DMZ patrols and Council Joint fleet engaged in combat with now identified human vessels. Contact lost with the system._

-.

**2155.07.20**

**Krogan DMZ; Aralakh System**

**A few hours ago, ARH Lefrane (asari cruiser)**

For any asari sailor the assignment on the Krogan DMZ was hardly a hazardous or exciting post, the system was an strategic location between several critical clusters and the krogans were a salvage bunch, but the amount of war ships and defense satellites assigned to Tuchanka made the system a route far too dangerous for smugglers, pirates or other criminal syndicates; so it was mostly as peaceful as the krogan home system could be. But the scars inflicted by the Krogan rebellions were not yet healed after so many centuries, so several patrol fleets were assigned to the system, but nothing like what has been gathered there at that moment. Three full Citadel fleets from each Council race alongside the local patrol fleets were certainly a force to be recon with.

Nearly 2000 war ships centered on seven dreadnoughts; there had been trouble with the patrol fleet of turian Admiral Varkus and later by a joint fleet under Superior Admiral Justinius on the nearby cluster; there were still waiting for the Destiny Ascension and a Citadel team of ambassadors. There were rumors that the turians had accidentally started a whole war with a newly discovered species, yet no reports had been confirmed so far; at least not to the lower ranks, as a flag officer Captain Nyatla of the cruiser Lefrane she and her bridge crew had been informed of the truth.

_Turians…They are almost as good on starting wars as they are on ending them._

"Captain we have a quarian freighter on the edge of the system" the scan officer of the asari dreadnought leading the asari DMZ patrol fleet informed her captain.

"Call them on the coms" Captain Nyatla ordered. "These suit rats are not welcome in Citadel Space" she declared.

The comms were opened and the hologram of a quarian female in the regular suit with the face plate hiding her face appeared.

"This is QFV Juler; we are in a trading mission, we have no business or troubles with the Citadel authorities" the quarian captain explained.

"The Citadel Fleet is conducting a large operation against smuggler cartels in this cluster; we will have your ship boarded to inspect for illegal contraband" Captain Nyatla ordered.

"You can't do that, you have not right" the quarian captain protested.

"We are in Citadel controlled spaced; we can do whatever we want, failure to comply will result in our ships opening fire on yours" Nyatla stated.

The Quarian paused for a moment looking down. "Very well, I will have our decontamination protocols ready for your arrival" the captain of the Juler conceded as the hologram vanished.

Captain Nyatla looked at her second in command. "Have the away team and commandos ready for the inspection; once on board the quarian ship, have the entire cargo impounded" she ordered smiling.

"Are we stealing their cargo?" the first officer asked in low voice, a little surprise that her captain would act like a pirate, appropriating another ship's haul.

"Confiscating their cargo" the captain corrected smiling. "The quarians have no voice in the Citadel, who would they complain? The Migrant Fleet…?" she said smirking. "Besides even if they have regular and cheap goods, having them sold in the market would be a good addition to our fees" she explained.

"Understood" the 2°IC conceded after a moment of hesitation. "I will have my best commandos ready at…" she was interrupted when an alert went through the entire fleet.

"We have activity on the relay!" the comms officer announced. "Ship profiles match those encountered by Admiral Justinius' fleet; it's those new aliens, the humans!" she nearly shouted.

Everyone directed their gazes on the holographic table of the bridge; the shape of the mass relay of the Alarakh system was filled by ships of shape and color that none of them had seen before, they were hundreds of them, frigates, cruisers, light dreadnoughts, those large fighter's cargo vessels known as carriers and at the center of the fleet were three large dreadnoughts each stretching over 1.3 kilometers long, also in front of the formation were two turian dreadnoughts with modifications and new paint jobs; Turian insignias and colors being replaced by Alliance colors and the blue, white and golden flag of Terra on their sides.

"At least four hundred ships, arranged in formation around their dreadnoughts and…those fighter carrier ships" the scan officer informed.

"We are receiving a transmission from the humans in all turian wideband frequencies" the comms officer informed before the face of a human male in uniform appeared on the hologram.

"Citadel fleet, I am Admiral Su Kwon of the Terran Systems Alliance" he began his voice deep and confident. "In response to the unprovoked turian attack on our territory and the invasion of our colony of Shanxi we the Alliance in the name of Earth and her colonies lay claim to this system under Citadel occupation" he declared to the shock of the entire Lefrane bridge and all the officers in the entire joint fleet. "If you are wondering what happened to Admiral Justinius and his fleet; then I will answer your question, our fleet and army liberated Shanxi a few days ago, his fleet and legion were annihilated and he and his fellow flag officer are on our custody. If you don't believe that then look at our formation we have captured your dreadnoughts Unification and Vostra, they have been repaired and upgraded with our technology" he explained.

"Retreat now, abandon this system and you will not be harmed; stay and fight and you will face the might of the Terran Navy" he declared as the hologram vanished.

Nyatla was without words to say the least, these arrogant newcomers have invaded Citadel Space and were demanding the fleet of the Council to retreat from one of the most critically strategic locations in the sector without a fight. They were bold or stupid it didn't matter, they would crush them like bugs.

The rest of the fleet's officers apparently had the same confidence, the three council fleets and the four patrol fleets were gathering up in an arranged formation around their dreadnoughts. There were 2000 ships against 400; also 7 dreadnoughts against 5; odds were in their favor, but she had read the reports of the engagement in the system of the Relay 314, the human ships were incredible powerful. Also the joint fleet lacked a unified command structure; they had been waiting for Commander Lindaya of the Destiny Ascension to take command of the fleet until that moment; now the leadership fell to the turian Admiral Rendrinum of the seventh fleet on the dreadnought _HWS Relentless_.

"Open the coms, inform Asari High Command of this and call reinforcements" she ordered.

"We can't" the com officer informed drawing the attention of the entire bridge. "The system's com buoys are not responding we aren't receiving anything outside the Alarakh System. We have been cut off" she finished.

_They sabotaged or hacked into the com buoys, remarkable._

It didn't matter, they would win; these newcomers were nothing against the Citadel Council and the Asari Republics.

Activating the ship wide inner coms she took a deep breath. "Attention all crew, battle stations" she ordered as the ship went to full combat alert.

-.

Arranging a wall formation to take advantage of their numbers with their spinal mounted axial guns at the front, all the ships of the Council joint fleet opened fire on command sending a volley of mass accelerator projectiles on the enemy which was burning hard towards them; _it was strange, the human dreadnoughts and…heavy cruisers had a very long range, superior to theirs even; why was it that they were not firing on them?_

She discovered the reason as soon as the mass accelerator volleys hit their targets; revealing the spheres of energy around the human ships that were reported as super kinetic barriers, most likely projected by the carrier ships. Absolutely no damage had been inflicted on the enemy ships, not even the dreadnought's heavy guns had managed to pierce through.

The human fleet continued to burn hard, racing forward closing their distance with them and through their super barrier they were shrugging their heavy fire as if it was rain.

Suddenly sensors reported that the radiation and energy levels around the human ships were lowering at an alarming rate, moments later several rounds of the artillery volley hit the kinetic barriers of the enemy ships, the super barriers have collapsed. But the joy felt across the Citadel fleet vanished in an instant as the human ships opened fire. Their mass accelerator rounds shattering the barriers of turian, asari and salarian ships; but the true source of horror came from those blue energy beams coming from the heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts; tiamat cannons they called them according to Intel, each of them capable of wrecking every ship that they hit, even their dreadnoughts.

Their side of the battle was lit with exploding ships and shattered barriers, dozens and then hundreds of ships lost.

_Off course their energy weapons lose power over long ranges they were trying to close the distance to increase the damage inflicted by their most powerful weapons. What is more, their ships had superior combat endurance –when a ship fired mass accelerator weapons the heat produced by them piled up in the hull causing; if the heat was not vented into a planet's magnetic core sooner or later it would cook the crew alive- as the humans had begun their volley later in the battle their ships had a longer timeframe of operation before overheating._

"All ships surround them we will overwhelm them with our numbers" the de facto commander of the fleet, the turian admiral Rendrinum ordered through the coms, as the fleet squadrons moved to surround the human formation, already they have sustained tremendous casualties.

Human fighters have also been deployed alongside corvettes and frigate squadrons; moving around their formation like a group of krogans mounted on kakliosaurs beasts performing a cavalry charge on their rear guard. It didn't matter this was a battle of attrition and they had the numbers of their side.

"Captain we have some kind of…" the scan officer called their attention before making a pause. "Dozens of gravitational anomalies appearing at vector 70° from our formation" the holo table soon turned to the opening of dozens of strange vortexes of energy from which they came through…

Human vessels and unknown

"What in the goddess name?" she exclaimed as in her mind she figured it in an instant; _some kind of alternate mean of FTL, reinforcements and now we are caught between two fleets._

-.

**SSV Lhotse**

"Second fleet in position admiral" his new flag officer Lieutenant commander Steven Hackett informed him.

"Good, let's see what these new drone carriers prototypes can do" Admiral Su Kwon answered.

"Haywire pulse ready" another officer informed him as the three Kamakura Class Drone Carriers shone with energy; launching a pulse of Possession plasmid like energies, their powerful AIs having deciphered Turian computers, com frequencies, firewalls and codes ready to break through.

"Pulses deployed" the AI of his ship informed him.

-.

**ARH Lefrane**

Captain Nyatla didn't know what was happening the moment three unknown ships having come out of the anomalies deployed a green color energy pulse that soon covered the entire Council joint fleet.

With it came chaos. All the communications between the fleet's vessels were severed, all frequencies lost and their computers were overwhelmed, it was as they had been infected by some kind of virus.

"Switch to laser tight beam communication and try to reassemble the formation" she ordered but it was of little avail, without communication and coordination between the fleet military order had given way to confusion.

Soon ships were fighting as individual units and as they try to regroup or change position they found themselves stumbling on each other. Very literally actually when one turian cruiser attempted to turn itself around to open fire on the new arriving ships and to the horror of the entire joint fleet the ship ended crashing with a fleeing salarian frigate. The virus had also affected their navigation systems apparently.

"Captain more anomalies are opening, this time on the proximity behind the human Admiral Su Kwon's formation" the scan officer informed them.

_More reinforcements, this is not looking good…_

She thought that until a new group of ships emerged from the anomalies and she realized it was far worse than what she was expecting; as the ships that crossed the angry rippling maws of energy that these humans were able to open were not the slick and elegant shapes of terran vessels…

These looked more like eldritch abominations, large black husks that looked almost alive as if they were made of organic material; the bright blue light of mass effect energy erupting from them as well; yet the most disturbing fact was that some kind of long appendices sprouted from the main bodies of the largest dark vessels like the nightmarish tentacles of a creature born out of the deepest of the void.

The entire bridge seemed to share her captain's feelings; their eyes were fixed on the eldritch ships, hands shaking, knees buckling and cold sweat erupting from their brows.

A part of he held hope nevertheless, maybe these new ships which used the same new FTL method as the humans were enemies of the Terran Alliance and had come here to intervene in order to gain an ally in their war against the humans and…

That hope vanished the moment the new ships opened fire on the Citadel joint fleet and moved in coordination with the main human fleet; their frigates and cruisers racing forward as their capital ships stood back in formation with the human vessels who began rearranging their battle lines to move their damaged or crippled vessels to the back of the unit as the rest covered them from enemy fire.

On the Citadel side there were no words to describe their situation other than pandemonium; fleet cohesion had been lost completely, also most of their banner ships had been destroyed under précised human heavy fire.

They needed to retreat at once, the battle was lost anyone could see it, they needed to warn the Citadel about the humans and their allies whose fleets were still emerging through the anomalies around what remained of their fleet, human and their allied vessels now standing equal to even their original numbers.

"Send a laser tight beam to every ship in the proximity, we are retreating now" she ordered to her shocked bridge crew. "Set a course for the relay, **now**" she ordered through gritted teeth.

"But captain we need to…" her second in command protested.

"The battle is lost" she interrupted her. "We must leave now" she added, most of her crew nodded in agreement.

Following her orders the ARH Lefrane moved to break formation and setting a short range FTL jump to the system outer mass relay. Asari ships above cruiser weight had two drive cores so the Lefrane could repositioned herself in case the enemy followed them.

As many others vessels from the joint fleet broke formation and attempted to flee; the Lefrane began to charge her drive core to made the jump to the proximity of the relay.

In that moment all the sensors went haywire

"Massive anomaly opening in front of us; its readings are off the scale, it is far larger than all of the others combined, it's like a fucking black hole" the scan officer stuttered, she wasn't exaggerating, through her ship and others the center of gravity was changing, liquids contained in flasks or glasses moved to the side, small objects shifted to the walls and a wave of static energy went through the skin on everyone onboard. The anomaly was so big that it created its own gravity well.

Their path was blocked but that was the least of their problems, as an immense object began to emerged from the super wormhole; its large titanic 'hammer shaped head' coming through and dwarfing everything around it.

"Athame protect us" a bridge officer exclaimed, her eyes filled with terror, Captain Nyatla could not blame her, right now she felt exactly the same.

The super colossal ship finally crossed the anomaly and emerged in close proximity of the fleeing citadel vessels. Its color and design clearly matching those of the human vessels but its size was…

"Confirmed, new ship is…" the scan officer stuttered. "Twelve point four kilometers long, **it's almost as big as a mass relay"** she declared without believe.

"Open fire and move us out of its way; take us to the relay…" Captain Nyatla was unable to finish her orders when the colossal ship open fire on every ship in front of her, like an erupting volcano dozens of beams of light came from every cannon and turret of the super dreadnought hitting all Citadel vessels in range. Even her Gardian point defense cannons proved so powerful that they cut through entire sections of turian cruisers and salarian frigates; the Lefrane included, as a single beam carved through her barriers and armor plating alike.

Acting on instinct as a former asari commando Nyatla summoned a barrier around her; she was lucky as the energy beam cut through her entire ship like a hot knife through batarian butter.

As her ship shattered in pieces, entire sections of the vessel were severed like the pieces of a broken toy after being thrown into ground; atmosphere and crewmen alike were swallowed violently by the void. Nyatla secured in her cocoon of biotic energy like a thessian mice in a glass ball was dragged by the explosive decompression, into the void of space.

Launched as a projectile hundreds of meters away from her vessel still in her biotic bubble she looked at her ship, the beautiful and fearsome ARH Lefrane being reduced to a dying beast; entire sections had been carved down by the laser beam; her lights flickering and atmosphere, fuel and crewmen alike venting into the void. Her suffering was not to last long, finally her drive cores gave up and the ship exploded in a blue supernova that made no sound in the void of space.

Nyatla felt her strength waning as she focused on holding the biotic bubble around her but she knew the hard truth, this was the end, her air was limited and the biotic barrier did not completely protected her from the space radiation that right now was burning through her every cell.

She looked at the battle ending around her, the remaining Citadel vessels were being cut down by the colossus and the black alien or human vessels. The humans had won the day and secured a foothold only a few mass relays from the Citadel itself; but she did not know if they even needed the use of mass relays, if they could control wormholes then they could attack anywhere they wanted and by-pass any defensive perimeter set in place, Palaven, Sur-Kesh, Thessia… by the goddess.

As her last remnants of strength finally gave in, she sent a silent curse to the turians and their arrogant admirals, they had awoken something terrible. A sleeping giant was now awake and furious and if its wrath was not satiated it would shatter all of what they had built in hundreds of years.

Exhausted she passed out as her barrier vanished and the cold void took her at last, her pain lasted less than a second. As it had been like a thousand years before on the orbit of Tuchanka thousands of turian, salarian and asari corpses floated in the dark void of space frozen as statues; then burning down to ashes when the fierce light of the star Alarakh -'eye of wrath' as the krogans call it- touched them.

-.

As the cannons of every ship finally fell silent when the battle was over; in the desolated surface of Tuchanka, an irradiated wasteland covered by ruins of a once great civilization; its people looked at the sky; even through the thick layers of clouds they could see the blinking dots of the battle finally vanishing and hundreds of shinny shapes moving from side to side.

When the communications with everything outside the system were cut off the krogans knew something had happened yet they could never imagine what was going on above their dusty yellow skies until they were restored. Pieces of broken turian, salarian and asari ships felt as broken pieces from orbit, shinning new loot for the krogans to take. Escape pods and short range shuttles also fell and their passengers soon found themselves at the almost nonexistent mercy of the krogan clans while the lucky ones received their capture at the much more benevolent and rational hands of the humans with some level of joy.

Then as communications were restored, aliens that they had never seen before sent a transmission through the entire extranet, that the krogans could not help but admire in its boldness and rhetoric: A declaration of war against the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council had been made, and all the krogans smiled in response. As more and more ships joined those in the skies above, beneath them the krogans made celebrations in the name of the new loot, in the name of their new prisoners and in the name of the Terran Alliance and the humans ready to fight the turians, as it had been revealed at last that the dominion of the Citadel Council was a colossus with feet of clay.

-.

**2155.07.21**

**Jotunheim System; Erebus Nexus**

**Meeting of Alliance High Com**

It had been a day after the battle of Alarakh; an impressive victory for the Terran Alliance and the start of a new chapter in the history books, yet if they lose this war there may not be any historian left to write it. Everyone knew what was at stake; this was not about the fate of nations it was about the destiny and future of all mankind.

There were promising news nevertheless; the rachni fleet under Brood Mother Tisiphone had performed very well in combat and held a level of coordination and efficiency based on their hive mind that could easily compete with advanced AIs operating together. It was unnerving to say the least more so considering that the rachni ships looked like something out of the worst acid infused nightmares of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

As for the three prototype Kamakura Class Drone Carriers; their deployment was certainly a success, their advanced processing power, communication arrays and the decoding and rewriting of turian computer codes have allowed the deployment of a new strategic weapon, the one that have decided the battle on Alarakh; **the Haywire Pulse **or** Interference Pulse**, as the technicians were already calling it. The pulse was based on the tech and genetic modifications behind the plasmid Tech-Possession: through mass effect fields and the manipulation of static energy on a precise scale they could send the coms and computer systems of any enemy ships to a state of haywire.

Then they would continue to send garbage data through the open channels, in a similar way to what the hackers called rabbit viruses or e-bombs completely overwhelming computer hard drives and making them unable to regain performance and functionality. But the pulse had its shortcomings; first it needed close range to act with effectiveness and second it needed a complete blueprint of the computer code structure to allow the disruption. The battle of Alarakh had certainly confirmed that, the initial impact of the pulse have sent the Citadel fleet into chaos but only turian ships remained under its effect until the end of the battle, by the time the remaining citadel ships were being rounded up, the salarian and most of the asari ships have recovered full communications and computer systems.

In the end it was a promising start to the war that may secure humanity's place in the galaxy but all these topics and items of discussion were to be taken into account at the meeting of the high ranking officers of the Terran Alliance: Navy, Army and Special Forces for the campaign in Turian Space; Operation Wrath of Terra has just began.

-.

Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao sat at the head of the table in the main conference room of the SSV Dawn of Infinity; the largest ship ever built by humanity and perhaps the largest ship in the known galaxy she was the ultimate expression of human will and intellect; the first Uber Dreadnought, a colossus that dwarfed every other starship ally or enemy.

To be fair many of her subsystems were still experimental and many more were not yet completed or at least active; the ship had taken many years to be completed with the blueprints suffering half a dozen modifications to adapt to new systems or compensate when these did not work effectively. She was more of a large weapon platform than warship at the moment, but a big ass weapon platform certainly and her capability to spread fear on their enemies' hearts and minds was one of the few aspects of her that was not in doubt.

"We now have complete control of the Alarakh system and most of the Krogan DMZ; Citadel outposts, observation posts and facilities on this cluster have already been secured. Now we must start phase two of the operation; we have two critical targets on Turian space: the star docks and orbital construction yards in orbit of the colony of Halliat and the agrarian colony of Parvis Marna. What are your suggestions?" he asked the meeting of Alliance commanders.

Admiral Elizabeth Comstock took the word. "I will take the Second fleet and handle Halliat in the Julta System; I also request the use of one Kamakura drone carrier as well as the Special Forces units, N7 Delta Team and Task Force Sigma to infiltrate the facilities in orbit" she stated, everyone nodded in agreement, the Second Fleet was one of the most powerful fleets in the human navy and Admiral Comstock was one of the best strategic minds on the Alliance.

"Very well" the Fleet Admiral conceded. "I trust that you will secure a swift victory at a minimal cost Elizabeth" then he turned towards Admiral Su Kwon.

"Admiral Su Kwon, your performance in this war has been exemplary; you will have command of the Eleventh fleet, the support of the auxiliary praxian expeditionary fleet and several rachni squadrons to invade Parvis Marna. Accompanying you to lead the ground invasion of the colony will be General Laghari" he sent his gaze to the Indian man in the other side of the table who was in command of an entire Division of the Alliance Army. "But let me make a few things clear; we all want to make the turians pay for those that die in Shanxi but we are not butchers; wars must be fight with honor. Under the orders of the Alliance Parliament there must not be any mass accelerator bombardment of any garden world, civilians and POWs will be treated with respect, we are here to achieve justice not vengeance" he declared to the nods of the table but a single officer remained in her seat making no movement; Major Naomi Shokida of the infamous Alliance Security Bureau.

"A moment please, Admiral" she requested waving her hand. "Speaking of justice, are we going to talk about the elephant on the room?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Pardon me Major?" the admiral asked.

"The krogan clans are requesting audiences; they do not have a unified leadership or government but they agree on two things: One they want to know who we are, sizing us most likely as allies and enemies alike and two that if we are going to go to war with the turians and salarians many krogans will be eager to join us; even if we do not provide them with a cure to the genophage as some of our analysts believe that they will request" she explained.

"There is also another subject of concern" the AI synth commander Raziel added. "As we had the system com buoys disabled, the Citadel fleet was unable to inform the Council of the development of the battle and its eventual result even though they sent a courier ship through the relay when our forces arrived through normal FTL, as to report our arrival and the beginning of the battle. But before the start of the engagement we detected three ships on the Alarakh area of operations that managed to escape through the relay; two volus trade freighters and a quarian freighter. And this is the interesting part, the volus ships crossed the relay as soon as the battle started, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire most likely but the quarian freighter stood on the edge of the system observing as we fought until the battle was over." he made a pause.

"Should we try to contact the quarians and offer them an alliance? After all they are clearly trustworthy, it was thanks to them that we were able to effectively prepare for this scenario" Raziel stated as Admiral Comstock interjected.

"The Krogans and the quarians are still potential players in the board that we can bring into our side. But for now is better to focus on our enemy, we should send envoys to discretely speak with both the krogans and quarians but I doubt it will be to our benefit if we bring them into fold without having a complete understanding of their cohesion and stability" she explained with many nodding in agreement.

"I agree" Admiral Sebastian Yao declared. "The Alliance government primary focus right now should be this war; speaking of which, the Prime Minister is preparing a formal declaration of war and statement to send to the Citadel Council. I have been informed that it will be ready by tomorrow, take the time to organize and finish the details on your forces as this war has just begun" he sentenced.

Then as the meeting delved into minor details and murmuring between the commanders and flag officers; Admiral Elizabeth Comstock turned her gaze to the window depicting the infinite black void and its shining stars. She could almost see the Widow Nebula and the Citadel in one of those bright spots; it was a shame that she was not there to see the faces of the Citadel Council as they reacted to the defeat on Alarakh and the loss of the Krogan DMZ.

_Your move then, it's your turn_ in her mind she said to the Council as if she was playing chest.

-.

**2155.07.22**

**Citadel; Council Chambers**

The news of the Battle of Alarakh and the fall of the Krogan DMZ have not reached the news or the extranet thankfully; but it was just a matter of time before the people of the Citadel and the rest of the galaxy. There were rumors nevertheless of the human invasion after all everyone could see the growing number of ships gathering up around the Citadel and on the frontier of the Turian Hierarchy and the other races. War was in the air and everyone could smell it.

Tevos and her fellow councilors assembled in the Council chambers with dozens of military commanders, analysts, scientists and advisors from various races; all of them watching the recording of the battle of Alarakh. Two quarians were also in the hall, practically being held by gunpoint by half a dozen turian guards; they were the captain and first officer of the QFV Juler the only ship in the Alarakh System that has managed to retreat safely through the mass relay. They have been 'detained' by a turian patrol fleet, a few hours ago, a volus freighter who had been in the system as well have been the ones to inform the authorities of their course and movements.

The female quarian a Captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler was accompanied by her first officer; the quarian captain had protested the detention of her ship and crew and has only agreed to share their recordings of the battle as long as the Council compromised to release them afterwards.

The holo video of the battle brought the attention of everyone in the room, the strategy and tactics employed by the humans had been perfect, all analysts agreed on that, their casualties had been minimal while those in the Citadel fleet had been tremendous and those wormholes anomalies were unlike anything Tevos or any in the room had seen before.

The manipulation of wormholes as the scientific advisors were referring to allowed the human ships the capacity to reposition themselves through the battlefield and call reinforcements with efficiency. Almost everyone even the two quarians and most of the turians winced when those monstrous black ships emerged from the new wormholes; the black ships looked like some kind of mix between normal starships and monsters from a retro horror vid. Yet one the most troubling of all moments and subjects was the deployment of that pulse of green energy that covered the joint fleet and destroyed its ability to communicate and coordinate.

The readings taken from the battle by the quarian sensors which were of second hand at best have left all technicians and scientists baffled; they were certain it was some kind of energy pulse designed to affect the targeted ships electronic systems.

Everyone in the room were unable to contain their amazement or their horror when the battle reached its breaking point and that super wormhole was opened; all the scientists in the hall exchanged looks not believing the scan readings; the gravity and energy forces emanating for that maw of time and space rippling open were off the scale…

And then that super dreadnought emerged; it was completely breathtaking, that monster made even the pride of the asari fleet the powerful Destiny Ascension look tiny in comparison. The colossus firepower was certainly proportional to her size; when the ship opened fire what was left of the DMZ joint fleet was decimated; her cannons shattered cruisers and frigates alike and her main batteries destroyed the remaining Citadel dreadnoughts with only one shot. The human language known as English had been incorporated into the translator so the letters on the side of the colossus were translated as well; the super dreadnought was named Dawn of Infinity.

_Poetic, like the embracing of eternity, these humans have an interesting culture_

As the battle was over, the video ended with the quarian ship crossing the relay, convinced that they have already overstayed their welcome in a battlefield of a scale not seen since the krogan rebellions.

"Look at the size and power of that monster…" Prateus exhaled; a few days ago he had scoffed at the chance that the humans could threaten the security of Citadel Space now he looked as if he had been kicked in the groin. Tevos knew him well enough to see that right now there was only one thing in his mind at that moment; Palaven, if that monster reached the Trevia System a single shot from that colossus' main gun could not only obliterate any ship in the Hierarchy's fleet but also made an entire continent of Palaven uninhabitable if it opened fire at the planet.

"By the goddess" Tevos thought. "How could they build a ship so large and powerful? What are these humans?" she said to no one in particular.

"Impressive and troubling…" the salarian councilor added, her voice as fast a racing ship, having lost its former slow and gentle rhythm; she was certainly nervous. "Different mean of FTL may also mean a different power source for their vessels, which is perhaps how they were able to build such a large type of vessels" she raced through every word as if she was on drugs, the salarian common way of speaking.

_The salarians usually want their wars won before they begin; now there is a new war against an enemy unlike anything the races of the Citadel have seen before._

"I am also concerned about those black nearly organic vessels" the hologram of the turian primarch stated. "Based on their different hull configuration we know they are another faction but the use of the same method of alternate FTL travel is a clear indication that the second species is either an ally or a client species of the humans" the primarch suggested.

"I found myself in agreement with the Primarch" Tevos conceded putting her fears aside. "It is certain that we are dealing with multiple species instead of one and they are not new to warfare and space faring colonization apparently. We have made ourselves a powerful enemy there is no denying that anymore" she sentenced bringing silence to the chamber.

"There is also the matter of this new type of weapon, deployed by the three unknown ships in this time frame" an asari military analyst interrupted switching to the video of the green pulse covering the turian, salarian and asari ships of the council joint fleet. "It looks like some sort of electromagnetic pulse or something like that…" she was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Incorrect" a salarian scientist interrupted her. "Readings do not match those of an electromagnetic pulse and the kinetic barriers of the ships should have stopped the energy from affecting their subsystems and computers. This is some kind of electro wave that overwhelms their hardware and software alike" he explained as he began to rant thinking on the science behind the green pulse.

"Trans energetic dispersal… No, there is no harmonic frequency"

"Electro wave of static energy through… No, too much power output"

"Field of phase energy deployed by…" he was interrupted.

"A mass effect interference pulse" the male next to his captain interrupted drawing the attention of everyone. "A concentrated wave of mass effect energies coded to overwhelm electronic systems and then drown the processing powers of their computers through constant uploading of garbage data…"

A pause felt upon the Council chambers as the quarian captain looked at her first officer with a disapproving gaze even behind her face plate.

"That matches the data of the readings and the effect on Citadel ships" the salarian scientist said amazed.

Soon all the eyes in the room felt upon the quarian male who proceeded to explain.

"It is a theoretical weapon that the Migrant Fleet R&D department has been working on; to fight the geth in the case they ever leave the confines of the Perseus Veil. The strength of the geth relies on their consensus through the interference pulse you can overwhelm their receptor systems and then fill their databanks with garbage data".

"The geth are not true AIs after all, only by communicating and integrating in a network together they achieve self-awareness and the processing power necessary to act as a single intelligence; without their integration with one another they are individual platforms and a single geth is not smarter than a varren" he began. "We were never able to make something like this work nevertheless; to make this function you need tremendous processing power, a highly advanced communication array and a massive source of energy" the quarian explained.

"If these humans were able to make it work…" he made a pause. "I would give my soul without a second thought to be able to examine that device" he declared as he looked at the hologram; even through his face-plate you could see his eyes shining with fascination.

_Quarians…_Tevos though. _The best engineers of the galaxy without a doubt, had they not been nearly exterminated and exiled from their homeworld by the geth, they may have eventually surpassed the asari as the most advanced race in the galaxy._

"That doesn't matter now!" Prateus cut in, as the rest of the chambers directed their gazes on him. "What we need to do, is assemble our fleets and push the humans back through the 314 relay" he stated with the classic turian arrogance that in that moment both Tevos and Eshael had little patience for.

"This has already gone too far!" she declared. "We need to send a message to the humans invite them to a diplomatic talk fix this cluster fuck before it goes out of hand, we have already make the mistake of allowing the turian military to practically declare war on a newly discovered species" she took a deep breath.

"Now thousands of turians, asari and salarians are death; we need to stop this war now" she declared to the whole chamber.

"I agree with Tevos" Eshael cut in. "Human technology is clearly more advanced than anything we have and we have very little intelligence about them. If we plan to either beat them or work with them first we need to learn about them first" she explained.

"The cluster they have just taken contains the krogan home system" Prateus declared. "What if they recruit the krogans into their cause or worse what if they develop a cure for the genophage" everyone looked at each muttering in low voices with disturb clear in their tones.

"The humans allied with the krogans could be near unstoppable" the turian primarch hologram stated; then he looked at the ground with concern in his expression. "We need to end this, now, we turians started this war, even though we still don't know if the humans are in league with the Terminus black fleet or not. We must send a diplomatic delegation to negotiate a cessation of hostilities and…"

At that moment every omni tool and terminal in the room began to beep; the extranet was on fire a message had been sent through every com buoy in Citadel Space and a single video was the trending topic of the entire extranet.

Imputing a set of commands on her omni tool, Tevos opened the video file on the hologram display; the shape of a female human with long black fur and light-dark skin; she was wearing a black suit of elegant design with a metal pin containing the symbol of the tower and planet near the neck, she was clearly a high ranking politician perhaps even their supreme leader perhaps.

"Citizens of the galaxy, both outside and under the rule of the Citadel Council" the human began her voice confident and unbending.

"I am Prime Minister Natasha Ferro chief of state of the Terran Systems Alliance; the unified government of my species the humans, our homeworld Earth and her colonies. More than a month ago, an act of war was committed against my people; on the nearby cluster to our agrarian colony of Shanxi our scientists and colonists activated the system outer mass relay to explore and survey the cluster for colonization. Then without warning, a turian squadron jumped out of FTL and opened fire at our unarmed scout vessels without even opening communications forcing their escorts to defend them; all of this in order to punish us for breaching a law we knew nothing about; as the turian patrol fleet under the command of Admiral Varkus ignored our hails for diplomacy and proceeded to invade our sovereign space"

The video then added footage from the human side of the battle near the relay on the Fujian-Alpha system; it was disturbing to see just how easily the turian ships outnumbering the humans more than three to one were completely decimated under precise and powerful firepower. Up until the dreadnought blowing up after being hit by three beam of blue energy fired by the human light dreadnoughts.

"In the ensuing battle the fleet of Admiral Varkus was obliterated; afterwards we captured hundreds of turians who were injured or surrender and recover Intel from the turian computers; from their codex to their language and history. Knowing that this could be just the beginning we call reinforcements and deployed a fleet on the other side of the Fujian-Alpha relay. As expected a new turian joint fleet arrived, this one far larger than the last, but having deciphered the turian language and communications we offer Admiral Justinius the chance for peace and a diplomatic encounter" the face of the human contorted into an expression of anger. "This was his response":

The video switched to a discussion between a turian and a turian admiral; Tevos and most of those present in the chambers including the quarians sighted upon hearing the declarations of Admiral Justinius, turian arrogance was clearly the main reason behind the beginning of this war. Tevos was sure that many on Thessia (primarily the young maidens) would openly condemn the words of Admiral Justinius and defend the human actions as merely defensive in essence.

"The human fleet under Admiral James Su Kwon stood against the turian fleet through overwhelming odds long enough for our transports to finish the evacuation of most of Shanxi's civilian population. As expected with the retreat of our fleet and the transition of the turian fleet through the 314 relay as they called it; the turian laid siege on our colony of Shanxi focusing their invasion and orbital fire on the city of Quinhai. Killing defenders and civilians alike through indiscriminate bombardment; they even breached their Citadel Accords and performed capital ship mass accelerator bombardment on a garden world; firing their axial guns on our colony's capital" at that moment everyone looked at Prateus and the primarch with nearly accusatory eyes. "The damages and casualties on our colony have been catastrophic".

"The colony was liberated a few days ago and in response to this act of aggression from the Turian Hierarchy the Alliance Parliament has decided we have no other choice" she made a pause.

"In the name of the Terran Alliance I as Prime Minister formally send a formal declaration of war on the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council" the entire room gasped with surprise and a little bit of admiration upon the bravery of such statement.

"I now deliver a message to the rest of the races on the Citadel; stand out of our way, our quarrel for now is only with the turians and I send another message to the Citadel Council, we know what you are and what you believe you are. You call yourselves the guardians of the civilized galaxy but in the end you claimed your dominion from an ancient space station you did not built and hold it through a network of mass relays that you don't even understand fully. In truth you are just a collection of rich space faring nations trying to maintain their supremacy over the rest of the galaxy; you are not even a shadow of the old prothean empire, while my species have long surpass the protheans" the arrogance or confidence behind the human's voice was terrifying and the way she spoke about the protheans left everyone unnerved.

"We are not another young space faring species ready to add to your list of associated species we are a dominium of hundreds of planets; also we are not alone, our allies of the Nar-Sara Hive and the Praxian Directorate have joined us as well in our war against the turians and unlike yours our technology is not based on that of the protheans but on those that exterminated them" a shiver went through Tevos spine upon hearing that last declaration.

"We are a species that has broken the confinements of the mass effect technology; you started this war but we will end it. Humanity has been awoken and now the galaxy shall feel our might"

"There are no gods, there no kings, Terra in Aeternum" the human sentenced at last her hologram vanished replaced by the tower icon of the Terran Alliance which hovered for a moment and then disappeared, attached to the video were several documents; including the formal declaration of war signed by the Prime Minister and several member of the Alliance cabinet.

Through the chamber nervous muttering and the pale silence of few took over the room as they looked to the Council for answers and leadership. The same scene was repeating all across Citadel Space, that video have crossed through the entire extranet and confusion was giving way to panic as the humans announced their intentions. In the streets of the Citadel people flooded towards the C-SEC headquarters to demand answers and ask about the possibility of an impending attack on the station.

The stock market had plummeted as well as the subsequent panic made stock prices fall faster than an asteroid caught in gas giant gravity well.

-.

**A few hours later, Citadel docks**

The Council meeting was declared over as soon as reports came from Turian Space of human attacks on the colonies of Haliat and Parvis Marna. No one cared for the two quarians that were conducted out of the chambers, without even receiving a single credit in payment for the Intel footage of the battle or the most promising theory regarding the human Interference pulse weapon.

The QFV Juler was in the docks on one the wards, ready to leave back to the migrant fleet; there was so much to inform them. Thankfully the Council and C-SEC were too busy to force them to erase their logs 'in order to avoid provoking panic' or having their cargo forfeit.

"You should have not explained the council and their advisors about the science behind the interference pulse used by the humans" Captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler stated to her first officer Rael'Zorah vas Juler. "Now they not only know about our possible plans and tech developments against the geth but also they can find a countermeasure to the human weapon" she declared clearly distressed.

"I am sorry captain" Rael'Zorah conceded lowering his head. "But to be fair, we don't know what to expect of these humans, what if they are even worse than the Council in their treatment of us. We do not know if we can trust them" he explained.

Rael'Zorah could have sworn he was seeing a grin on his captain's face beneath the obscure glass of the face plate.

"Humans will help us I know that" she stated then began to speak in a near whisper tone. "They have done it before; but even after all that my father has told me about the encounter in Kaldir I never could have imagined they could become as powerful as to defeat the turians and challenge the Council in such a way" she said.

"Encounter in Kaldir? What are you speaking of?" Rael asked. "You knew about the humans…?" he was interrupted mid-sentence as his captain shushed him.

"Not here…" she warned. "The Citadel is full of eyes and surveillance systems, but my father did told me an interesting story of a first contact encounter with a new space faring species on a frozen planet…" she said as they walked towards their ship.

_The Migrant Fleet must know about this, the conclave and the admiralty must be call up at once to decide what to do in this time of strife. The turians have bitten more than they can chew and their arrogance will lead them to defeat hopefully._

_Keelah se'lai; we may see Rannoch once again through the humans help._

_Pallu'Kaziel, good fortune in the war Terran Alliance; I hope you all achieve victory._

-.

**2155.07.24**

**Parvis Marna, Turian agrarian colony; two days later**

Saren Arterius took cover behind what was left of a concrete pillar in the shattered ruins of the military base at the outskirts of the colony's main settlement. Mass accelerator rounds pierce the air all around him. The human invasion of the colony had been ruthless and efficient; his brother Desolas had told him about the operation to pacify a newly discovered primitive race that was in league with the Terminus Black Fleet apparently, right before departing through the 314 Relay; he had scoffed at the concerns of Saren and his fellow officers declaring that he would be back within a week or month at most, ready to share a toast with Saren in celebration of another rogue state brought to heel by the might of the Turian Empire. Now his fate was unknown and the humans have come into their space, hungry for retribution.

Their fleet had obliterated the colony's defense fleet and has been routing any reinforcements; their precise bombardments had been cutting down the colony's defenses and infrastructure while their soldiers and vehicles descended upon their bases and settlements.

The humans fought with a code nevertheless, according to Intel, the settlements under occupation were suffering no harm at the hands of the human soldiers nor shortage of supplies, energy or food. Also there have been no reports of orbital heavy mass accelerator bombardment, they were definitely no krogans.

There have also been reports of a second alien force of giant insects working in coordination with the human soldiers; large black creatures with long claws and tentacles like some sort of long distance relative of the extinct rachni.

Parvis Marna's garrison and the legion assigned to her defense have been completely overwhelmed; they were too accustomed to fight pirates, mercenaries or the rare separatist group. Human soldiers were well equipped, trained and disciplined, a fighting force to rival even that of the turians or asari commandos.

The difference in doctrine and technology between the turian and human forces was even wider on the vehicles than on the infantry. Most of turian vehicles had been designed for support roles, relying in orbital supremacy to eradicate ground forces; their APCs and Mantis type gunships didn't held a candle to the human hover tanks, heavy walkers and Orca gunships.

He had seen an entire squadron of APCs and a platoon of infantry being annihilated by a single human sandtiger hover tank that had taken dozens of vehicle cannon shots and looked completely unbending in its advance.

Saren's thoughts were interrupted when the ground began to shake, small rocks in the ground bouncing in the rumbling terrain. He and his remaining comrades, brothers and sisters in arms looked at each other with concern; they all knew what was approaching. Most of them would not get out of there alive, he peek his head out of cover despite the danger of enemy fire; in the horizon he watched as a colossal steel beast approached, it was like a mobile fortress walking on four legs.

A bright blue light started to glow in the snout of the giant like a fire breathing monster ready to throw fire from his mouth; Saren's heart skipped a beat, he turned to the rest of the soldiers.

"**Take cover!"** he shouted as he moved.

A giant blue beam of light passed right next through their position; shattering a group of turrets, buildings and crippling what was left of their defensive line. Debris felt on top of them, Saren jumped into a trench as pieces of metal and concrete rained on their position, he was being buried alive.

After what it felt like an eternity in the darkness beneath the debris barely able to move and even breathe he was actually relieved when a group of soldiers unburied him and had his wounds treated even if they were humans taking him as another POW.

_He would wait until an opportunity appear then he would the humans pay._

-.

**CODEX:**

**Rachni Fleet Bio ships:** Rachni Bio-ships are bio modified creatures that are cultivated and grown in the Sara Prime Solar System (where their main Hive the colony of Nar-Sara is located). They are derived by a combination of cloned rachni tissue and Earth native Adam slugs steam cells; engineered like living organic beings they are unique amongst the fleets of the space faring species of the galaxy.

They feed from the strong radiation of the Sara Prime red star. The hulls of bioships are composed of living, and growing, organic matter through the use of a unique type of biotechnology capable of growing at an impressive rate. This has afforded the bioship a number of advantages such as hull regeneration, neural energy distribution and impressive adaptation against various types of damages and effects like overheating from continuous mass accelerator fire. Through the replication of biotic organic nodules connected to advanced subsystems they can generate powerful mass effect fields that allow them to sustain considerable kinetic barriers.

The inner space of any rachni ship resembles that of an organic titanic living being; rachni workers get in and out of stasis constantly to save life support systems, while soldiers and drones work in the neural connections that 'control' the ship. There is no 'captain' for rachni vessels as they hold together in a hive mind; with the only exception of perhaps the flagships that are controlled by rachni queens and brood mothers acting as commanders for entire fleets.

**-Rachni Hunter class Frigate: **Relying more in numbers than in high tech single units, the rachni frigate is 120 meters long, barely above corvette weight, but the rachni collective with their hive mind allows multiple frigate to coordinate and perform impressively when together in cooperation. Preferring energy weaponry over mass accelerators, the Hunter class has an axial ion laser cannon and a bay of disruptor torpedoes.

**-Rachni Devourer class destroyer: **Main line cruiser of the rachni fleet the devourer is 480 meters long; with a reasonable amount of weapons, armor and barriers. Through the use of its organic components the ship is able to deploy and switch biotic barriers on nanoseconds.

**-Rachni Azathoth class Battle cruiser: **Named after a primordial god from the lore of the Cthulhu mythos from the works of H.P. Lovecraft; the Azathoth became one of the most feared vessels in the known galaxy. Equipped with a single light but powerful tiamat cannon the Azathoth performed exceptionally during the First Contact War holding the line against citadel cruisers and frigates. Standing over 700 meters long the Azathoth seems more of an eldritch abomination than a starship with its black organic hull and tentacle like protrusion coming out of the main body which are used as conduits for power transfers, exchange of equipment between vessels and boarding operations in combat situation.

**-Rachni Cthulhu class Dreadnought: **Holding the name of the larger than life monster that gave its name to the mythos of H.P Lovecraft books; the Cthulhu is a true monster, she stands 1900 meters long being a mix between a carrier and cruiser. Her weapons are the strongest amongst the rachni fleet and its crew compliment is a small hive in itself. It is the only warship in the rachni armada that carries a rift syphon allowing her to open rift entrances to jump from system to system in the blink of an eye. They are the command ships of rachni queens and brood mothers.

-.

**-Alliance Praxian assault Vehicle MAWLR: **Affectionately nicknamed Mauler the name MAWLR stands for Mounted Artillery Walker/Long Range. The largest ground vehicle in the Alliance Land Force command; the MAWLR is less a mech and more akin to a battleship on legs, standing at a height of 280 meters tall. Developed by the Praxian Engineering corps the MAWLR was first build on the planet of Praxis as an eezo mobile refinery then modified as a walking super heavy ground weapons platform.

The MAWLR is heavily armored on all sides, and capable of shrugging off even the most powerful attacks. Its construction is also highly durable, and can continue to operate and fire despite taking heavy damage. The only real weakness of its design comes in the form of cooling vents placed around the machine to prevent a critical system malfunction via overheating, giving a keen-eyed attacker a chance to damage the machine.

Utilized for both anti-ground and anti-air operations with a variety of mounted weapons, a single MAWLR is capable of combating entire battalions of enemy forces. Its main weapon is a spinal mounted tiamat cannon on its port side; capable of even taking down a hovering turian cruiser from the ground.

The MAWLR was first deployed on the fields of Parvis Marna during the beginning of the Terran Blitzkrieg on turian space at the peak of the First Contact War, where its size and heavy weaponry became the bane of entire turian battalions. Decades later during the dark days of the Reaper Wars, MAWLR units stood their ground fighting against reaper destroyers and even Sovereign class reapers.

-.

**-Kamakura Class Drone Carrier:** A prototype escort carrier containing no crew but several compliments of drone fighters and bombers; as well as a highly complex array of communications supported by a smart veteran AI. A joint project between Lutece laboratories, Hephaestus Heavy Engineering and the Rachni Hive ship building collective the Kamakura stands 1200 meters long and has a shape and layout completely different to those of other Alliance carriers as it does not hold a substantial organic crew.

Unlike the Ciceron class escort carriers which are capable of carrying several squadrons of strike crafts, this vessel contains a far larger number of units as there is no space used for crew quarters or auxiliary areas; also the AIs controlling this type of vessels are veterans with experience and updated combat algorithms. By deploying a single one of these vessels she can unleash a highly coordinated and powerful swarm of drones against an enemy armada certain to overwhelmed point defense arrays and adapting to enemy maneuvers in nanoseconds.

-.

**-SSV Dawn of Infinity:** There is perhaps no greater representation of human and Alliance military and technological might than the Dawn of Infinity, a prototype Uber Dreadnought and carrier designed to become the flagship of the entire Terran Alliance Navy.

The colossal vessel stands 12400 meters long with a shape similar to a mix between a dreadnought and a carrier. The crew of the vessel is equally impressive holding 45000 people onboard coming from every part of Alliance space. The ship is powered by five large scale Singularity reactors; even though generally only three of them remained active on all times while on battle operations, the five are on and powering every system of the ship; be it weapons, tachyon shielding or the rift syphon.

An enduring symbol of the power of Earth and her colonies, the ship is commanded by Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao, first star lord and Supreme Commander of the Alliance fleet. The ship carries the largest arsenal on the entire fleet; with an axial gun of over 1500 kilotons, and batteries of coil guns and Tiamat cannons as large as cruisers and a massive array of Ion laser point defense cannons; according to simulations the uber dreadnought is as powerful as an entire Council fleet. The rift syphon on the uber dreadnought is the largest prototype in existence, capable of allowing the vessel to traverse from one edge of the galaxy to the other in the blink of an eye or traversing through a quick succession of systems and coordinates without the considerable pause for recharge.

Even though it has been designed as a military vessel, the Dawn of Infinity holds hydroponic gardens, foundries, and labs; acting with efficiency as a mobile command center for the elite of the Alliance in the case of a massive galactic war; or a deep space exploration vessel.

The ship's name is based on the last phrase of Isaac Asimov novel The End of Eternity: "it is the end of Eternity and the beginning of Infinity".

-.

**NOTES: **

**The MAWLR giant walker is front Killzone 3, I loved its design and I could not help but to think about how useful one of them could be against the reapers.**

**I was inspired by the rachni ships designs on Deviantart:**

** euderion/art/The-new-Rachni-Fleet-Mass-Effect-Fanart-842268019**

**Next chapter will be the highly awaited diplomatic talks between the Alliance and the Council.**


	13. Chapter 12: Statu Quo Ante Bellum

**Chapter 12: Statu Quo Ante Bellum**

_E pluribus unum_

"Out of many, one" (former national motto of the United States, which "In God We Trust" latter replaced)

-.

**Citadel report: CLASSIFIED for Council's eyes only**

It has been two weeks since the beginning of the Human War as the journalists are calling it; now after conquering occupying two turian colonies and being at a strike distance of Palaven or Irune, the human initial unstoppable advance had paused, perhaps to regroup their forces for a final push or to extend their supply lines. There have been dozens of battles and skirmishes so far and the Terran Alliance had won all but two and those battles could barely classify as a victory as the Citadel fleet having a considerable numerical advantage only managed to force the enemy to retreat from the system at the expense of heavy casualties.

The Volus Protectorate is scared; humans have so far avoided opening fire on their ships, declaring that they held no quarrel at them as long as they do not military support the turians but they have secured vital mass relays and FTL lanes blocking trade routes and hampering the turian and by effect the volus economy, if this war continued even if the turians win, they Hierarchy's economy will be considerable crippled.

Through their wormhole technology the humans and their allies -as we have identified two new alien factions in league with the humans, one with black ships that almost resembled living organisms and another with a heavy use of synthetic warfare; using mechs and drone fighters- have been able to jump and strike through turian space practically unimpeded, they can by-pass defensive formations around the relays and strike on critical outposts and sectors, as well as retreating or calling for reinforcements with tremendous efficiency.

There is no denying it anymore, human technology is superior to that of the Citadel races; human ships are more powerful; only through a 3 on 1 ratio of numerical advantage as well as carefully crafted strategies can the Citadel forces achieve victory against our new enemy.

On the ground human forces are equally as tenacious as their fleet; they have an impressive array of armored vehicles and heavy weapons that can easily overwhelm any ground defenses; more so with orbital supremacy achieved. Their attack doctrine is also ruthlessly efficient; most likely through their wormhole technology and their electronic warfare systems human Special Forces have been conducting surgical precision strikes on turian defensive infrastructure sowing chaos and deception before striking hard with their army units. There are also reports of teams of elite human commandos operating in the turian war theater; N7 squads, Praetorian heavy infantry and elite task force units seemed to be in parallel with even the most elite and capable operatives on Citadel space.

We do not know the reaches of Human intelligence services but so far the salarian STG and turian blackwatch have been unable to secure any considerable piece of Human advanced technology or critical Intel. We suspect use of near AI technology and support, we doubt that a species such as the humans would have survived to this level of technological supremacy had they been involved in AI development.

If the humans are speaking the truth and their technology is based on those –whomever or whatever they have been- that wipe out the protheans then there is no denying that this could be the greatest threat the civilized galaxy has faced since the rachni wars and krogan rebellions. Yet this is not an enemy acting on brutality and sheer numbers, we are facing an extremely intelligent and advanced civilization with a clear plan and capacity to plan ahead. Our conclusion is that a diplomatic mission must be conducted at once, before the war reaches the point of no return. There are reports of a massive grouping of human fleets in the Alarakh System we suggest sending the diplomatic mission there.

-.

**2155.08.10**

**ARH Cybaen, Alarakh System, Krogan DMZ**

As the Cybaen's shuttle crossed the swarm of ships surrounding the colossus Matriarch Jhana Seloni shifted nervously on her seat, her sharp gaze drifted between each of her companions though lingered on the turian ambassador and salarian specter the most often.

She looked at the turian diplomat with the lingering feeling that his presence here was a mistake; the turians had found and accomplished every possible way to fuck this whole thing up. The shattered wrecks of turian and council ships surrounding them was a clear testament of this new species military might; but that super dreadnought in the center was more than that: it was the unquestionable proof that the Citadel and Asari technological supremacy may had finally come to its end.

In her one thousand years of life she had never been as nervous as right now; she felt as if the entire fate of her people and the galactic community rested on her shoulders. If she failed then this could be the true beginning of a new rachni war or krogan rebellion; only this time it was an enemy with superior technology to that of the rachni and a greater tactical expertise than the krogans'.

_I can still fix this, maybe if I can convince these humans to join the Citadel we can bring a new era of technological development into Council space. But bringing a turian here, what if they see it as an insult or the arrogant fool starts to make demands; I will keep him in line no matter what._

At the cockpit of the shuttle, the asari pilots were sweating bullets after they noticed that the gigantic guns of the colossus were turning to aim at them; going through an enemy fleet was one thing but this situation looked like walking into a thrasher maw nest covered with raw meat.

Finally after a few minutes to the relief of both the shuttle pilots and her passengers, the shuttle gently touched down on the colossus main hangar. The inertial dampeners kicked in so the shuttle's landing was barely felt by her passengers.

Inside the shuttle, everyone conducted last minute preparations: Jhana and Kyana adjusted their dresses in order to look as dazzling as possible in front of these strangers; the salarian Ambassador Hilot and the spectre Khonin calibrated their omni-tools while the turian ambassador Nujel Droeun only stood next to them still as a statue, staring at the ramp with impatience.

Matriarch Seloni moved forward, taking the lead with the turian ambassador and her assistant on her right and the salarian ambassador and specter on her left. She took a deep breath before turning around to face her colleagues and addressing the team.

"All right we all know what to do, be patient, be respectful and don't you dare to show any aggression to these aliens" she said the last phrase staring at the turian diplomat, who looked offended at that.

"Let's see if we can end a war and perhaps acquire a new associated race in the process" she sentenced with a smile on her face.

She was internally praying to the goddess that they may not see through her intentions, convincing them to join the Citadel as an associated species would only be the first step, they would have to design a long standing plan to have this new civilization completely subordinated to the Council.

As the ramp finally opened, they were received by the bright lights of the hangar bay, before their eyes adapted to the lighting and were able to behold the massive battalion of soldiers in front of them.

An entire battalion of what seemed to be two hundred of human soldiers were arrayed in ten lines of twenty in front of them. They were armored in dark blue hard suits with white and golden trim paint lines going from the shoulders to the legs. All of them wore helmets that concealed their faces with a metal faceplate and a polarized visor. Each of them were armed with what looked like assault rifles, they looked deadly, and professional; holding their weapons with both hands close to their chests.

Internally Matriarch Seloni felt both relief and regret for not bringing an escort of asari commandos with her.

Suddenly from of the back of the formation came a shout. One of them, which Jhana assumed was their commanding officer, yelled out a command, and the soldiers all grasped their rifles in sync and raised them upwards at an angle, creating a single, loud banging sound as the marines moved in perfect unison with those in middle turning to the center and steeping back clearing a perfect gap in the formation. As a trio of individuals who looked to be the officers marched forward through the new passage to meet them.

The turian ambassador looked impressed, it was clear these humans had a remarkable military discipline; which was something every turian respected.

The salarians and Jhana were also impressed even though they felt that this display was a clear intimidation at them and a show of force from their part.

Her assistant Kyana was certainly intimidated by them.

After a few seconds of pause Jhana stepped forward with the group following her lead, the trio of humans receiving them finally stopped mere meters from them.

The one on the center was certainly a male practically as tall as a turian, unlike the previous human individuals recorded in vids and images; his skin was of a dark brown color with black fur growing from his chin and face. His eyes were of a greenish brown as he looked up and down on each member of the Citadel group as if trying to examine their capabilities. He had the same blue golden trim uniform as the human identifying himself as Admiral Yao on the extranet, with a number of medals and ribbons all over his chest; and a cap with a symbol of a tower in a circle with three stars above, resting on his head.

The one on the left was a female shockingly beautiful for asari standards with long black fur coming out of her head; her skin tone was a pale pink. Unlike the other two humans her eyelids were more closely joined together, and her eyes were of a golden yellow. Her uniform had the same design as the one in the center only that it was of a pristine white with golden trim. The way she looked at Jhana was unnerving as if knowing her already.

Finally the one on the right was a male of pink skin and black fur growing on his head; his face was marked by a long slash scar going from the forehead to the chin. He wore a similar uniform to the other two humans, but unlike them his was of a darker shade of blue without some of the golden trims. Unlike the other two this man certainly looked like a soldier and the gaze of disgust he directed to the turian ambassador showed that he did not cared about etiquette or cordiality.

The one in the middle stood forward, lowering his head perhaps in a sign of respect.

"Matriarch Jhana Seloni" he began addressing at her. "Welcome onboard the SSV Dawn of Infinity flagship of the Terran Systems Alliance's navy" he stated.

"I am Captain Manuel Nasala Commanding officer of this vessel; I would like to introduce you to my companions General George Williams hero of the defense of Shanxi against the Turian invasion" he waved at the man at his side, before turning to the woman next to him. "And Mayor Naomi Shokida of the Alliance Security Bureau" he explained.

"It's an honor to meet you" he declared.

_A fleet officer, a general and a spy interesting choice for a welcoming committee, _she though.

"Thank Captain Nasala" she answered putting on her most charming smile. "I am here in representation of both the Asari Republics and the Citadel Council, this is my team: Ambassadors Hilot and Droeun of the Salarian Union and Turian Hierarchy respectably" he pointed to the turian and female salarian.

"This is my assistant Kyana Seloria" she waved at her asari companion, before turning to the specter. "And Council Spectre Konhin, chief of security for this meeting" she explained.

"First of all in the name of the Citadel Council let me give you my sincerest apologies for the regrettable actions of the Turian forces, which led to this misunderstanding…"

"Misunderstanding?!" the Human known as General Williams interrupted her drawing the eyes of those gathered at him.

"It's that how you call a war with thousands dead in both sides?" he asked clearly offended, before continuing. "The capital of our colony of Shanxi is a shattered ruin because of the ruthless attack of the turian Admiral Justinius and thousands of men and women have died in an invasion your leadership sanctioned" he declared with barely contained rage.

For a moment no one said anything, the salarians exchanged looks, the turian looked offended staring at the human general and Kyana looked at her mistress, who was surprised by the outrage declaration of the officer.

"General Williams" she answered finding her voice. "Sorry if I offended you, It is truly a catastrophe all of this; let me assured you that the Council had no knowledge of the fate of Admiral Varkus and the actions of Admiral Justinius until it was too late" she declared with a tone full of regret.

"This war which has shattered nearly a thousand years of uninterrupted peace on the galaxy has left a black stain in the Turian Hierarchy and Council's prestige" she said before adopting a more serious tone. "But while I do not justify in any mean the actions of Admiral Justinius, the Turian High Command was acting in the belief that you were linked to the actions of a criminal and terrorist group operating in the Terminus System known as…"

"The Black Fleet" the human female interrupted her. "Yes Matriarch we know, our turian prisoners have been declaring that; about how our ships were able to carve through their cruisers and ships with our laser beams" she made a pause looking at the asari matriarch with her golden gaze. "First of all, the main weapon used in our heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts is not a direct energy weapon; it's a type of ship board cannon which fires particles of molten uranium and metal through concentrated mass effect fields, we designated them as Tiamat cannons."

"Our analysts believe that the Tiamat Hydrodynamic-Magnetic Cannon which was based in prothean technology found in our home system decades ago may have also been developed by a Terminus System faction or nation through the discovery of a cache of prothean technology in any uncharted archeological site" she explained.

Everyone exchanged looks; _that actually made sense; I hope her reasons for being so fore coming over the nature of one of their most powerful weapons be in the interest of diplomacy and truth._

"I see" she answered. "Thank you Mayor Shokida; was it?" she asked the female officer who nodded.

"In any case, it is a privilege to meet you. Despite the…less than ideal circumstances that brought our peoples together, it is the hope of the Citadel Council for continued peace and cooperation between our peoples" she declared with solemnity.

"We appreciate the sentiment Matriarch, our government and people also want nothing more than to live in peace" Captain Nasala answered. "But for now let's focus on ending this war, before it's out of control. Admirals Yao and Comstock are waiting for you in the conference room; let us take you to them" he instructed as he turned around, ready to leave.

"Thank you Captain" she answered following the trio of humans walking in front of them, her party and six human guards abandoned the formation and started to follow them.

The platoon of soldiers broke formation and retreated to their posts. Now with their view and attention unobstructed, the Citadel group began to look around the immense hangar. The space was so big that it could fit an entire squadron of frigates; an endless row of fighters and shuttles rested through the hangar, with thousands of technicians, soldiers and officers walking around fulfilling their duties.

The salarians and the turian ambassador were impressed while Jhana and her assistant made a show to hide their astonishment at the impressive hangar bay.

"Impressive ship, very large hangar and efficient layout" the salarian specter commented, drawing the attention of the group. "What type of ship is this?" he asked with some level of excitement, the rest of the Citadel party was also curious.

"Thank you, Spectre Khonin" the captain answered. "The Dawn of Infinity is the Alliance first Uber Dreadnought; a hybrid dreadnought carrier warship; much of her features are still experimental and also classified unfortunately. But she is one hell of a ship; during her initial test her main gun proved to be so powerful that it shattered a small size moon to pieces with one shot" he declared smiling, leaving the Citadel representatives a little unnerved.

After leaving the hangar bay, they were conducted through a long hallway which led to several adjacent areas including an armory and a storage bay. It was then that Jhana and her companions could completely behold the interior design of the human ship: the walls were of a pristine white metal with layers of gorgeous golden layers, the floor was a polished black color that made a perfect contrast with the white walls finally lighting was projected into the space from lights at the ceiling and walls.

It was almost like an asari ship only that asari and salarians preferred undulated and soft curves with organic design while these humans in a similar manner to the turians seemed to prefer angular shapes and straight lines. But the masterful uses of materials and meticulous design were clear statements that these humans were masters of both shape and function.

The hallway met its end in the encounter with a perpendicular hallway, where a medium size circular space served as a crossroad resting area, in the center of a circle was a strange contraption which held two mechanical columns with a circle between them, like a ceremonial arc for processions.

"We have reached this area's internal rift portal" the captain explained as he approached a computer panel near the right column and began introducing commands.

"Rift portal?" Jhana asked. "This contraption is some kind of transportation device?"

"Yes, this ship is so large that in order to travel from area to area in a time efficient manner, we have several internal rift portals for the crew" he explained as he placed his hand on the command panel.

Suddenly the contraption was brought to life as a current of electricity traveled through the columns and summoned some sort of anomaly in the center of the circle similar to a biotic warp; the anomaly curved as a fabric of pure energy that folded on itself like a tear on the very tissue of time and space.

The Citadel party made a step back, while the three humans step forward with the captain at the lead.

"Please follow us, the portal will take us directly to the conference room" he signaled at them.

The three humans simply walked forward into the anomaly their shapes disappearing into thin air, the salarian spectre acted like a child just witnessing a magic trick; before anyone could even blink he had sprinted around the device in order to see if the humans have gone through any trapdoor or anything.

Making an internal prayer to the goddess Jhana Seloni moved forward with her companions following her with a great deal of hesitation. Arriving mere inches from the anomaly, Jhana took a deep breath and crossed the anomaly.

A minor wave of electric tickles crossed her skin before she looked around at her surroundings and found herself in a new much more open space, certainly much closer to the hull as several windows near them showed the void and system around them.

Her feet simply moved on their own and continued to walk forward leaving room for her companions to arrive through the anomaly.

The two salarians, her assistant and the turian came through the rift and looked around equally amazed and confused. After a few seconds the contraption on the room shut down and the anomaly withered and disappeared.

"We were just…teleported?" the salarian ambassador stuttered with disbelieve, the human known as Mayor Shokida came to approach them.

"The rift portal is a dimensional tear maintained through a rift energy syphon" she explained. "The rifts are gateways from one point of space to another, unlike normal mass effect FTL conduits there is no time dilation between travels as the rift transition is instantaneous" she explained.

"AMAZING!" exclaimed the salarian ambassador. "Our scientists will be over the sun with this technology" she sentenced before adopting a more serious and hesitant stance. "Would you be willing to…"

"NO" the female human interrupted mid-sentence. "This technology is property of the Terran Alliance, if you want to know about it you will have to talk with the Parliament and the Prime Minister" she sentenced.

"In any case" the elder human captain intervened. "It is time to take you to the conference room, the admirals are waiting for you" he explained as he guided the group up some stairs and to a large door, with several guards posted next to it; their armor looked much more detailed and designed, with red line trim going from the shoulders to the legs.

"I am afraid we cannot let anyone armed into the conference room" the captain declared looking at the salarian spectre. "Please hand over your weapon, it will be return to you, once the talks are over" he explained, signaling one of the guards to take the gun.

The spectre hesitated for a moment before looking at the ambassadors who nodded in agreement so he upholstered his weapon and handed it over to the guard.

After crossing two more rooms which apparently served as some sort of observation and resting ports, they arrived at an impressively large room, almost entirely of glass. The space was nearly triangular in shape like a cone with windows in three of the four walls, and even on the celling was a huge crystal opening. The orange shape of Tuchanka the desolated Krogan homeworld claimed the central view of the room; even though the large group of ships also took a great deal of attention from the onlookers.

At the center of the room was a large table made apparently of black wood, two humans were talking near the table yet stopped when they saw the group coming through the gates, a male and a female, the male she recognized it as the one who has made the statement of war through the extranet, the female looked older than Mayor Shokida but she was also considerably pretty with black brown long hair and deep blue eyes.

Another being was with them, its body shape was of a human but it was clearly a synthetic construct perhaps a mech servant. Its skin was of a white polymer with impressive eyes that almost looked human or asari. Its bald white head almost reflected the light around. The turians have reported that the humans made extensive use of synthetics and auxiliary mech units, but this robot looked almost like a living being.

"Admirals" the human captain said, as he, the mayor and general straightened up and made some kind of salute putting their hands on their foreheads; a salute incredibly similar to the turians official salute.

"At ease officers" the female next to the admiral answered returning the salute before she and the admiral turned to the citadel representatives.

"Honorable ambassadors" the male human admiral approached and began. "Please sit down, it's time to talk" he sentenced with a voice filled with conviction; then he turned to Captain Nasala.

"Thank you Captain; that will be all" he said, the man nodded with his head and turned around.

The captain nodded and repeated the salute, before turning back and walking through the door.

Taking the order of the human admiral the five members of the Citadel party took their seats on one side of the table; Matriarch Jhana took her place in the center with the turian ambassador and her assistant on the right, and the two salarians on their left with the ambassador next to her and the spectre on the far left.

The humans did the same with the Male admiral on the center, the female admiral at his right and the General on the far right; with the mayor and the synthetic mech on the left.

Everyone on the Citadel party was confused to see a mech taking a seat in the table; perhaps it was a way to record the meeting for historical purposes.

"Matriarch Seloni, I have already being informed about your identities, so let me give you the formal introductions" he began. "I am Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao commanding officer of the Alliance First Fleet and overseer of this war theatre" he explained before pointing to the female next to him. "This is Admiral Elizabeth Comstock of the Alliance Second fleet and my assistant Connor Sable" he explained as he waved at the white synthetic mech.

"The Prime Minister and the Parliament have authorized me to conduct formal negotiations, until the arrival of the ambassador" he explained. "So let's get down to business, we are willing to declare a cessation of hostilities against all of you if you agree to the set of terms we have prepared" he declared betraying no emotion.

The Citadel representatives exchanged looks, the turian looked offended while the salarian ambassador was nervous, yet Jhana kept a blank expression.

"What terms are these?" she asked.

"Connor would you kindly" the Admiral requested the synth.

"Our terms are simple: First of all the return of all human prisoners taken after the battle of Zodiac Alpha and the return of all human properties and technologies captured" the synth explained. "The Terran Alliance will return the same courtesies and as a gesture of good will we are willing to return all of the turian prisoners in our custody baring the flag officers as well as the dreadnought HWS Unification and the remaining captured turian ships" it explained.

"Second: the signing of an armistice, in your terms a simple truce, declaring an end to the war, with the establishment of a clear set of borders between our two nations" it added.

"And third: this is entirely negotiable; the payment of war reparations by the Turian Hierarchy at the Terran Alliance for the unprovoked attack and destruction caused at the human colony of Shanxi" the mech declared looking at the turian ambassador with inquisitive eyes.

Ambassador Droeun looked to be about to protest, but a dead glare from Matriarch Seloni silenced him before he was able to rolled his tongue.

"I consider those terms agreeable, for now" she answered. "Even though there is much to discuss yet" she sentenced adopting a more friendly expression.

"It is clear you have us at a disadvantage Fleet Admiral Yao, I am aware that you may know a great deal about us probably for the Turian computers' data and your prisoners; but I will give you short explanation of our government and civilizations in order to shed some light about any misconceptions you have" she added, as the human admiral nodded she took a deep breath and spoke.

"More than two thousand years ago the Asari Republics and the Salarian Union established the Citadel Council. The Council is an executive committee composed of one representative from each of the three member species. Though they have no official power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy."

"It is the central believe of the Council that every species and civilization contributes something to the greater galaxy. At the council each species has general characteristics associated with the various aspects of governing the galaxy. We the asari generally hold the role of diplomats and mediators; the salarians STG gather intelligence and information and the turians provide the bulk of the military and our peacekeeping forces."

"There are currently three fully fledged members on the Council and five associated members that maintain an embassy on the Citadel, what I believe you call the once Prothean Imperial Capital; the seat of political power in the galaxy, a massive space station built by the Protheans, who created the Mass Relays. Each species holds supreme authority over their respective territories, but the Council helps to maintain peace, secure trade routes, provide commerce security, customs and a unified banking act, as well as others diplomatic and trade agreements" she finished.

"So could you give us a quick rundown on the Terran Alliance, your people, your government, your history, your economy and technologies for example" he asked with eagerness to learn more about this new player in the galactic stage, her companions shared her curiosity.

"Well" Admiral Yao made a pause returning the smile.

"The Terran Systems Alliance is the unified government of humanity, our homeworld Earth and her colonies. As you have already saw while interacting with my people, we humans have an incredible array of genetic and cultural diversities; on our homeworld Earth the different nations of humanity fought and competed each other for millennia in the name of whatever god they were told to worship, the color of their skin or their customs and ways to rule themselves" he made a pause.

"That was until a century and a half ago when we made the first real steps into space, and discover an alien outpost on the fourth planet of our home system; a prothean ruin" he stopped, looking back at the citadel group. "The unquestionable evidence that we were not alone in the universe served as a catalyst to unite the nations of Earth under a single government and paved our way into the stars" he explained.

"As you can imagine the prothean archives gave way to the development of the mass effect technology, biotics, FTL travel and the discovery of the Charon mass relay on our home system. Yet unlike other species such as yours' even before the discovery of the mass effect technology, a group of our scientists had already developed and alternate mean for instantaneous FTL travel: the rift gate technology" he explained with an smile on his face while looking at the new interest in the eyes of the Citadel representatives.

In an instant the holographic display of the table was brought to life as it began to show the representation of ships traveling through enormous rings that projected larger scale versions of the anomalies they had recently used to travel from place to place within the ship.

"Our rift gates are scaled versions of the portals you have already seen. Enormous hadron colliders capable of stabilizing quantum rift through what we refer as the Lutece Field in honor of Robert and Rosalind Lutece the scientists who invented this technology more than two centuries ago; creating a sort of 'wormhole' from one point of the galaxy to another in an instant" he explained, with each word, the eyes of the citadel representatives became more and more prone to bulge out of their places in amazement.

"We have been building and positioning new rift gates to connect the systems within our space creating a network containing hundreds of systems and thousands of worlds" he explained, as the display switched to representation of the whole galaxy, detailing Citadel Space, the Attican Traverse, the Terminus Systems and the Alliance and Batarian space. Jhana was amazed to see the size of the territory apparently claimed by the humans as well as the lines and points through the blue color segment indicating just how much of it have been surveyed and maybe even colonized.

"Just how big is the Terran Alliance? How many colonies do you possess?" the salarian ambassador asked, realizing in her mind that if these rift gates could be used to connect areas of space considered too away from the relays to be explore, then the reach of the Alliance could be tremendous.

"The Alliance has established over 800 colonies" the synth answered.

The five representatives of the Citadel exchanged looks mouth agape; if this was true then the Alliance was in possession of more planets than the three council species combined.

"You have found 800 garden worlds?" Jhana asked.

"Actually no" the synth answered taking the word. "Most of the Alliance colonies are on zero atmosphere planets or small moons for mining, construction and scientific purposes. Only above 100 planets can be consider garden worlds by your standards including Earth and the colony of Shanxi; and there are many of them still in process of terraformation" he explained.

Releasing a heavy breath she felt a little better after that, even though it was still an tremendous number and if it was true then it was very likely that the humans have not only taken the tittle of most advance race in the galaxy from the asari but also the one of the largest economy on the galaxy as well.

"Impressive nonetheless" she said.

"One more thing" the human admiral added. "We shall be honest with you, our government and people have known about the existence of the Citadel Council and your nations for decades before the disastrous recent first contact at Relay 314" he explained to the shock of Jhana and her companions.

"You see approximately forty seven years ago, one our ships made first contact with two alien races that you know very well; the quarians and the batarians" he said

For a few seconds silence took over the room as the citadel representatives looked at the humans and then to each other.

"You made contact with the Quarian Migrant Fleet?" she asked.

"Well, yes and no" the admiral answered to the puzzled look of Jhana and the rest.

"Humanity's true first contact with another space faring race was with a small group of quarian pilgrims a few decades ago" he explained before adopting a completely professional stance.

"During one of our long range survey missions, one of our ships the SSV Michigan made contact with a quarian ship that had crashed in a frozen planet later designated as Kaldir. After making first contact and exchanging information, the human team working on the quarian ship was attacked by the same group that had forced the quarian ship to crash land on the planet, a crew of batarian slavers" the holographic display began showing images of that close encounter on the artic world.

"A rescue mission later resulted in the liberation of both our people and the quarians, as well as the elimination of all the pirates, it was then that after reading through the information provided by the quarians that our leaders decided that humanity was not ready to join into the larger galactic community, we gave the quarians the Batarian pirate frigate we have captured and allowed them to part in peace, with the promise that they will keep the existence of our species and civilization a secret, they kept their word apparently" she finished speaking, the Citadel party was observing the images and video of the battle between the batarian slavers and the human soldiers.

"Why did they think your people were not ready to join to the greater galactic community admiral?" the matriarch asked with curiosity.

"Do I really need to answer that Matriarch?" the admiral asked with indignation.

"Your kind has been space faring for millennia while mine has done for little more than a century; we knew that making contact with you at their current state will probably leave our people in a weak position, without allies in a galaxy full of beings that may considered us 'the new kids on the block' an easy target, from what I have seen so far including our recent 'incident' with the Turians, I believe our leaders were proven right to maintain humanity away from your Council's reach until now" he explained as Jhana narrowed her eyes in disagreement.

"More importantly our leaders were scared of you and what fate could befall our species have they found ourselves in a position of weakness, we have seen your historical codex after all" he declared as he gestured with his hand at the orange shape of the planet Tuchanka through the glass viewport.

"For what I heard Tuchanka was once a beautiful garden world, now it's an immense radioactive wasteland home to the krogans a broken and sterilized people by war and biological warfare" he declared looking at the two salarians. "In a way this planet is a testament of your Council greatest failures; the dreadful fate of the krogan people and the regrettable use of the genophage, a weapon that barely borders on an act of genocide" he declared with clear conviction receiving the bewildered looks of the Citadel representatives.

"And that is just one piece of concern in your long standing history: the eradication of the Rachni, the expulsion and mistreatment of the quarians from Citadel Space and your lack of response to batarian piracy and slavery of other species, doesn't really paint your Council in a good light" he declared earning a sharp look from each of the Council representatives.

"You have no right to condemn the actions of our ancestors, admiral" the salarian ambassador interjected. "With all due respect your people had not seen the krogan's brutality and ruthlessness; have we failed to stop the krogan's expansion they would have spread all across the galaxy and our species and most likely yours as well could have been the ones subjected to genocide" she declared.

"And the quarians? The loss of Rannoch and their banishment from the Citadel?" she added. "They earned their fate when they created the geth, a race of artificial intelligences and in their ignorance they did not see their creations imminent rebellion until it was too late; their disastrous experiments still hold the Perseus veil to this day as a looming threat to every organic species on the galaxy" she made a pause.

"As for the batarians, we have long hoped that their primitive and simply barbaric caste system would eventually evolve over time through technological and social engineering, but the Hegemony has always refuse to change their ways or abandon their poorly developed slavery based economy and despite our best efforts they have become an annoying bleeding pustule on the side of the Citadel" she declared with some regret on her voice.

"The 314 Relay incident and this bloody war between you and the turians could have never happened if you have made contact with us decades ago" she declared with complete certainty on her high pitch voice.

"Maybe you are right ambassador, after all humanity was not even in the Industrial Revolution at that time of the krogan rebellions, nor have even invented gunpowder during rachni wars" the human female known as Admiral Comstock conceded.

"I agree with Admiral Comstock" Fleet Admiral Yao added adopting a more serious expression. "To be fair, when we studied your history we understood your reasons for every one of your actions, after all the history of humanity is regrettably filled of dark ages and times of strife; more than anything we realized that the galaxy is a vast and unpredictable territory, filled with dangers and secrets that no level of technological development and careful planning can completely prepare you for them" he declared with some level of sadness, before adopting a deadly serious stare.

"However there is another set of reasons of why my people were not too keen in joining your 'galactic community', and we know you will not react well to this" he declared with a serious look as he locked gazes with the matriarch on the opposite site of the table.

"The Terran Systems Alliance has an extended use of two technologies that are considered illegal in Citadel Space: Extended Genetic modification…" he made a pause looking at the aghast yet not completely impressed glances of the five aliens. "And Artificial Intelligence" he revealed as the faces of the five Citadel representatives turned into expressions of terror, disgust and surprise.

"ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?!" the matriarch shouted as she stood up from her seat. "Fully self-aware?" she asked as she had misheard, receiving the nod of the human admiral.

"I cannot believe this!" she declared with a sense of superiority. "Your species may be advance, there is no denying that, but is clear that a new space faring species such as yourselves does not understand the dangers regarding artificial intelligence" as she finished her declaration and looked at the offended looks in the faces of the four humans and even the synthetic she realized she had made a huge mistake. She had released her thoughts completely out loud and perhaps alienated the humans forever against the Citadel; defeated she collapsed back on her seat.

"The matriarch speaks with reason! AIs have proven to be ambitious and dangerous beings" the Turian ambassador spoke for the first time, it was ironical that he looked as if he was the one trying to defuse the situation, even though all were expecting for him to be one to speak without thinking and mess things up.

"Please you have said it yourselves that you know about the history of the quarians" he began. "Think about them, pushed to the brink of extinction and exiled from their homeworld of Rannoch. Do you really want to risk the same fate from your people?" he declared with almost genuine concern, perhaps making an incredible effort to hide his internal desire for the human to end the same way as the quarians.

"Our AIs are not the geth" the human Admiral Yao declared as he smiled directing his gaze at the synth called Connor Sable at his left. The synth returned the smile and looked at the turian ambassador speaking for the first time.

"As you can imagine Ambassador Droeun, I am synthetic and more importantly I am a fully aware AI" the synth declared as the turian ambassador quirked his mandibles in clear uneasiness as he did not know how to react to an artificial construct that wasn't a dumb VI, this 'Connor sable' looked almost alive actually.

"But I was not born or built if you prefer the term a complete fully self-aware AI" it made a pause. "You see, all human built AIs and synths are designed through a set of source codes created though the brain scans of human volunteers, as organic beings the synths and AIs of the Terran Alliance can 'grow and evolve' in a way, establishing preferences and fixations as well as accumulating memories, until they reach the point when they have achieve a fully developed personality" it made a pause as the citadel representatives switched from apprehension to some level of curiosity and perhaps even fascination.

"Once an AI or synth starts showing signs of complete self-awareness or 'abnormal interests' they are given a 'choice', to perform a set of trials known as the Porter Test that determines their abilities to not only simulate but also genuinely possess traits like curiosity and empathy. If they pass then they are classified from that moment and then as fully sentient beings and citizens of the Terran Alliance and granted the same level of rights and duties as every other human citizen of the Alliance" it made a pause.

"For what I heard the geth rebellion started with a single question by a single geth: does this unit has a soul?" it made a pause. "According to the status and laws of the Terran Alliance, I have a soul" it declared with such level of confidence that his words sent a shiver down each Citadel representative's spines.

"What happens…" the salarian ambassador asked with some hesitation. "If the synthetic does not pass the test?" he asked.

"Between 89 to 93% of them, generally pass it every year" the synth answered. "Those which do not pass it, can take it again if they consider themselves ready for it: months, years or even decades after the first time" it explained.

"There are some rare cases when an AI or synth starts developing some level of software degradation because of corrupted codes or hardware damage; we define those as cases of rampancy and if those synthetics are considered a danger to others, humans or otherwise, they are isolated or even terminated if they are considered beyond recovery" it explained.

For a moment the Citadel representatives exchanged looks of equal parts of apprehension and fascination, if this synth spoke the truth then this strange long standing coexistence society of organics and synthetics may explain the huge technological and economic leaps of the Terran Alliance in such a short history. But keeping synthetics and fully self-aware AIs with equal rights on their planets and ships was a huge risk in the case of hacking or AI rebellion.

_Perhaps that could be a tactical weakness that we can exploit against the Alliance_

"One more thing, you have declared that the quarians made a huge error and their banishment of your Citadel is justified" Admiral Comstock interjected drawing the attention of the room to her. "You are right, the quarians made a mistake: for you it was creating the geth, for us it was trying to destroy them when they became a sentient life; and indeed they made the same mistake as the protheans" she declared to the confusion of the citadel party.

"Beg your pardon the protheans?" the asari assistant Kanya asked them.

"What do you think happen to the protheans?" the human fleet admiral Yao asked.

"Well there are many theories regarding prothean extinction as well as the extinction of other civilizations that came before them" the Matriarch took the lead speaking. "Some believe there was some sort of massive civil war, others that a plague spread across the prothean race and wipe them out; finally there are others like the hanar who believe the protheans were able to achieve a greater state of being by evolving into something more or even uploading their consciousness into servers and living in utopian virtual paradise" she explained.

"But there is little to no evidence or records regarding the prothean extinction or disappearance; even after centuries after studying prothean ruins we have no reached any entirely agreed conclusion that may explain every mystery behind the prothean disappearance so far. That was until your declaration through the extranet that your weapons were based on those that eradicated the protheans" she sentenced with some level of hesitation.

At that moment the female human admiral flexed her lips into a wide smile, her expression sent a shiver down Jhana's spine, those deep blue eyes seemed to radiate an intellect and wisdom that she had not seen in her fellow matriarchs.

"On the Mars' ruins at the Sol System we found intact records of the prothean extinction, most were degraded or shattered but through piecing them together we were able to discover the history behind the mass relays, the citadel and the protheans" she declared to the amazement of the Citadel representatives, who exchanged looks of both curiosity and disbelieve.

"Have you ever wondered why you have never been able to find the prothean homeworld or records about the construction of the mass relays?" she asked. "Each mass relay is a massive construct larger than this very warship and there are thousands of relays" she continued.

"How much resources, during how many decades could and through how many long range FTL jumps could have taken to only built a single mass relay?" she asked and the Matriarch had to admit this human lady made a good point; she once heard a fellow matriarch suggesting the Armali Council that they could start building new mass relays themselves only to be laugh out of the room at the absurdity of the suggested endeavor.

"As you know, there were other species that existed and built their own space faring dominions before the protheans; among them perhaps the most advanced were the Inusannons, we believe they were the ones who built the first mass relays as there are records of the protheans referring to the inusannons as an old race" she made a pause.

"But the Inusannons were destroyed just like the protheans were afterwards by a race of synthetic beings of their own creation, known as the Reapers" she pressed a command on her wrist tool and the shape of a squid shape large creature, through observation you could see that despite its shape the creature was not organic but robotic.

"Each Reaper was an autonomous ship of dreadnought size designed to travel through normal FTL speeds through the galaxy, as they were machines and their mass effect drives were highly advanced they didn't had to rest from journey to journey and they could continue to travel for decades or centuries" she added.

"And in the process they were to gather up resources for once they found a suitable location they could began the construction of a mass relay. Through this process and perhaps through the use of dozens or perhaps hundreds of Reaper units the inusannons and then the protheans were able to construct the mass relay network in perhaps thousands of years instead of millions" she made a pause as the Citadel ambassadors watched the representation of a mass relay construction and the growth of the unified network through the galaxy.

"We believe that during some kind of inusannon civil war the Reapers were used as doomsday eradication weapons causing an endless stream of destruction that finally destroyed their ancient empire. Then the protheans found the derelict reapers, had them repaired and used them as their super workers to expand the existing mass relay network until the whole galaxy had been united in its entirely under their empire; as their capital and control nexus for the whole mass relay network they built the Citadel" the holographic display showed the Citadel as the central nexus of the network at its position on the Widow Nebula.

"But just like the geth, the Reapers began evolving and slowly reached self-awareness" she made a pause allowing her words to sink in. "Afraid of the dangers presented by the possible rebellion of their most powerful servants the protheans attempted to destroy the reapers, they failed and the reapers turned against their masters" she explained showing images of the enormous reaper constructs obliterating prothean cities with terrifying efficiency, those images made Jhana shivered with fear for the first time in centuries perhaps.

"Facing annihilation the prothean attempted to unite all advanced organic races of the galaxy behind them, these subservient client races were classified as low caste protheans, and for a time it seems like they were turning the tide in what they called The Metacon War" she explained.

"But the reapers now fully evolved, began to adapt to every strategy and military doctrine of the Prothean Empire" she explained as her tone grew somber.

"Eventually the Reapers took the Citadel and from there they were able to shut down the entire mass relay network; completely fragmenting the Prothean Empire into its separated pieces preventing any type of coordinated defense, before initiating a meticulous and ruthless genocide that took centuries to be completed in its entirely, eradicating the protheans and every single one of their Subservient species" she explained in a tone filled with sadness.

"Victorious the Reapers were the new masters of the galaxy but as machines they were not moved by ambition or pride; but rather the search for perfection and the self-preservation objective" she made a pause as the hologram displaying the galaxy began to highlight four systems, everyone from the Citadel side of the table recognized three of those systems: Palaven, Thessia and Sur'Kesh.

The fourth system if she was to guest must have been the human home system containing their homeworld Earth.

"Looking at the still primitives races of the galaxy like the asari, turians, salarians or humans which were not a threat; the Reapers decided to take no action against our ancestors perhaps they could not foresee the consequences of eradicating all organic life in the galaxy; just like the geth in the end of the rebellion against the quarians did not hunt them after they have left their home system and were no longer a threat" she added, sending a shiver down Jhana's spine as she thought for a minute that the fate of her entire species may have been decided by a race of synthetics.

"Instead of taking over the remains of the Prothean Empire, we believe that the reapers either secluded themselves in one isolated cluster of the galaxy or abandoned it entirely traveling through dark space into another galaxy" she explained, as the hologram display showed the current network of connections between the mass relays with the Citadel in a predominant position as well as the homeworlds of the mayor species.

"But before they left, they reconfigured the mass relay network, connecting primary mass relays to our home systems and the most suitable garden worlds in order to allow the younger races of the galaxy to make use of it to establish their own civilizations, after all the mayor nations of the galaxy made use of prothean remnants to develop their technologies and industries" she made a pause as the hologram was shut down.

"So now you know, what we believe happened to the protheans and how the mass relay network was constructed, setting the foundations for our galaxy and its peoples" she declared with a somber tone looking back at the Matriarch in the eyes.

_By the goddess, if this is true…_ she thought. _When the Council finds out about this… even though the humans could be wrong… but this version of events behind the prothean disappearance and the mass relays explains every single mystery and question regarding the ancient races of the galaxy._

Taking a deep breath she decided to continue with the meeting.

"This hypothesis of yours may explain a lot about the prothean extinction" she began. "But it also serves as another cautionary tale about why AIs are dangerous and unpredictable beings. So despite knowing about this story, your people decided to maintain your AIs and synthetics instead of shutting them down. Why?" she asked, hoping to find another thread from where to pull and found a weakness in the relationship between the humans and their synths. The human male admiral, Sebastian Yao smiled and prepared to answer.

"Our relationship between ourselves and our synths is symbiotic, we organics have always search for progress through technology and synthetics through understanding, we believe there is no perfection, only self-improvement; we help each other to advance all of us forward, in fact the term Terran is a tittle bestowed on all the citizens of the Alliance, humans and synthetics as a way to honor our shared Earth's origins" he declared with some level of conviction.

"Besides your developments on AI and synthetic technology you have also mentioned you have an extensive use of Genetic modification" the salarian ambassador added, perhaps trying to move forward the talk and change the subject.

"My own species has had a bad history with genetic and eugenics technology" she said. "During our earlier stages of space colonization we began to perform eugenics and bio formations on our colonists to adapt them better to new environments; this led to new subspecies of the salarian race that challenged the supremacy of Sur'Kesh for the control of the Salarian Union; those small insurrections ended centuries ago with the suppressions of those elements and the exile of those snio-salarians to the terminus systems" she explained.

"After that the Council established various laws against gene-mod therapy: You can cure a disease or correct some birth defect or condition but you cannot made an entirely new species, specially a sentient intelligent species, nor you cannot add a genetic trait that is not in a species gene-pool; for example you cannot add a gene into your genetic code that can allow your species to digest cellulose" she explained.

"We consider illegal and unethical to change a species very essence through genetic tampering as generally it gives way to unintended long term consequences like sterility or irregular behavior" she added. "What are your practices and laws regarding genetic modification?" she asked, this time it was the young human female Mayor Shokida who answered.

"Gene-mod therapy has been common place in human society for almost two centuries" she began as the holographic display began to show videos of genetic treatments on humans which resulted in instantaneous regeneration of wounds and impressive powers that looked different to biotics.

"Our first developments in gene-mod therapy started on Earth at the city of Rapture, a haven for the elite of humanity during one of our most tumultuous times" she added. "Before you ask, let me assure you that in Terran Alliance space, eugenics practices are illegal" she made a pause.

"Our people put a considerable value on individual choice all gene-mod therapies are voluntary and only those above 18 years old, the age when humans are considered adults are allowed to access them" she explained. "The gene-mods generally focus on improve strength, intellect or stamina; while treatments before birth and in vitro conceptions are limited to fix birth defects or genetically inherited conditions; there is only one case of bio formation to adapt to an alien world, my home planet and the wealthiest human colony: Praxis" she made a pause, as the hologram showed a large garden world with multiple moons.

"The most striking of your genetics…improvements… are completely restricted to everyone but our military" she said word with some level of hesitation.

"We called them Plasmids, enhanced telekinetic powers which include several variations like pyrokinesis (fire control), cryokinesis (ice blasts), electro kinesis and advance telekinesis not too different from regular biotics powers" the hologram now showed the videos of humans manipulating elemental powers; for everyone in the Citadel side of the table there was no surprise as they have already seen the reports from the turian troops at the siege of the human colony of Shanxi; but there was some fascination that those powers came through a process of genetic enhancement.

There were a few moments of silence between the two groups, before the Matriarch finally said what she wanted to say since the beginning the meeting.

"Well despite the conflict between our peoples, we would like to invite your representatives to the Citadel in order to finish the terms of the peace treaty and perhaps establishing diplomatic relations between our nations".

_These humans, their synths and their genetic infuse powers are a clear danger to every species on Citadel Space, but all these new technologies and advances developed by them could bring a new age of progress for the entire galaxy. We just need to play them right and convince them to hand over their knowledge and resources to us; if territorial or monetary concessions doesn't work we may be able to appeal to their pride and arrogance, using their self-assured confidence to bring them into the fold._

Jhana's toughts were interrupted when a message came to the Fleet Admiral through the intercoms.

"Admiral Yao, Ambassador Anita Goyle's ship is about to arrive in the system" a male voice said through the speakers.

The Five terran officers stood up and looked through the windows at the rift gate they had placed orbiting Tuchanka; the ring like construct activated and from the anomaly in the center a large ship perhaps cruiser size surrounded by dozen small ships was cough up.

Jhana's feeling of apprehension and fear for the almost magical method of instant travel the humans have developed was now replaced by curiosity and fascination for that impressive technological feat.

After a few minutes of silence, the voice spoke once more through the speakers.

"The ambassador is onboard as well as the Hive's representative, sir" the voice said.

"Thank you LOKI" the admiral answered before turning back and looking at the Citadel representatives.

Suddenly one of the doors to the room opened allowing a human women to entered followed by a large alien creature resembling a black klixen with long tentacles, that looked very similar to a…

_NO, it cannot be, she looked at her colleagues the salarian ambassador and spectre also looked terrified as they could recognize that creature._

"Ambassadors may I like to introduce you to Ambassador Anita Goyle of the Terran Alliance parliament and her companion the representative of our ally the Rachni Hive and the Rachni Empress Maia" he explained, as the expressions of the five citadel representatives contorted into looks of pure horror.

"The Rachni Hive is a client species of the Terran Alliance" he explained with an expression that expressed no emotion; as the Citadel members exchanged looks of terror.

_Just when I was thinking my report was going to cause the Council to flip, when I tell her about this, Tevos is going to have a stroke._

-.

**What a twist Ehh? I know you see that coming and I know you may have wanted to see the Council's new encounter with the rachni but this chapter has been long enough already to add another unnecessary HFY moment or long historical anthropological explanation.**

**This chapter was very hard to write as it was not only the true contact between humanity and the Citadel but also the perfect time to provide insight into the Terran Alliance's society. I hope you have enjoyed the banter between the two factions, I will explain my reasons for some of your future critics:**

**\- The revelation behind some of the technological resources and cultural aspects of the Alliance was necessary as a mean to plant the seeds for a possible long term relationship and understanding between the Citadel and Alliance; also it was a way to provide rich dialogues in this chapter, if you keep all your cards close to your chest, people will not play with you.**

**\- I know many of you may think I was too soft on the pass actions of the Council and that my position is too neutral, but let's face facts: who are we to judge the crimes of the Citadel Council?**

**The krogans deserved better but they brought war and the genophage upon themselves because of their ruthless and self-serving ways; after all the ancient krogan empire had a single concept of morality: might makes right.**

**The quarians also deserved better and personally I am a big fan of Tali and the quarians but they lost Rannoch because of their ignorance on their attempt to destroy the geth, a new sentient species, if you have met Legion and EDI then you may see that some AIs deserve to live.**

**I hope I have provided a plausible explanation for the Council tolerance on batarian slavery and piracy.**

**In any case my attempt was to be as diplomatic as possible without compromising the principles of the Terran Alliance.**

**Next chapter perhaps coming next month will be the Terran Ambassador's visit to the Citadel and the Citadel representatives and others tour of the Erebus Nexus.**

**XXXXX**

**As always I do not own Mass Effect or Bioshock; Mass Effect is property of EA games and Bioware; while Bioshock is property of Ken Levine and Irrational Games.**


	14. Ch 13: First step to peace

**Chapter 13: The First Step to Peace**

_Contra principia negantem non est disputandum _

"There can be no debate with those who deny the foundations"

-.

**ANSWERS TO REVIEWS & AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Sorry for the long wait but I have just started my master's degree and I have been working on my thesis. I know my English writing leaves much too be desired, I am wondering if this is of any use to my writing and if my English improves at all, as always looking for any beta writer if someone volunteers.

In any case, this chapter will focus on the representatives from each faction and species visiting first the Citadel and then the Erebus Nexus.

**GrayAngel13, BridgeBurn100, EvilTheLast & Shaitan Elnefi**: I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, we are still in the diplomatic first contact stage of the story, now the real conflict begins.

**PappyOldGuy:** As always your words of encouragement are a gift; thank you very much.

**Santiago.M.G**: In the next chapter I will have an entire part dedicated to some Citadel representatives' visit to a human museum.

**CReaper210:** Thank you for your praises; and yes, the Alliance PM speech was a little over the edge, I wanted something more decisive yet poetic but the cost of revealing too much was something I have to take into account; so I left it plain and threatening.

**Altruism:** I share some of Ayn Rand's ideals, not all of them but in perspective we are on a troubled era with populist movements taking power and gaining strength. It's like a new fascism decade, where the neo fascists call themselves progressives, defending dictatorships like Venezuela, Iran or North Korea, all in the name of anti-imperialism, bullshit; in the end Ayn Rand warned about the dangers of mediocre charlatans gaining power and persecuting all other ideas; she had some sense after all.

**sugoijack9:** Of course, when we reach the stage of the Reaper War, I will start showing the Asari's true colors.

**Gingi71:** I have received the same critics by others, this is a new timeline but sometimes, the more the things change, the more they stay the same. Constants and variables can repeat across different paths. Cerberus is an interesting concept but my version of the Systems Alliance mixing together with Bioshock will bring up various different ripples in the plot.

-.

**2155.08.12**

**Council Chambers, Citadel**

**Widow Nebula**

In her 653 years of life Councilor Callis Tevos the unofficial leader of the Citadel Council had never felt so baffled and uncertain about what to do. After Matriarch Seloni sent her report, detailing the encounter and talks with the human Admiral Yao and other representatives of the Alliance with the attachment of a light Codex database detailing the history of the human race, the reaction of the Council and its advisors had been mixed, to say the least.

The Turian councilor Prateus had been frustrated and furious as a result of the unconceivable new defeats the human military had inflicted on them after their declaration of war, yet after reading the Terran Codex he was completely outraged by the acts of the Quarians at providing the humans with information regarding the Council and the doctrines of the Turian military.

He was about to order every Quarian in the citadel arrested and every Migrant fleet vessel forfeited but Councilor Eshael was quick to inform them that every single Quarian had left the Citadel and the Quarian Migrant fleet had moved out of Citadel space. The Salarian Councilor Eshael had reacted with deep concern, especially regarding the Rachni.

At the very least the humans were honorable to a degree, in the last two days since the signing of the armistice ending the so call First Contact War, Turian and Citadel war prisoners had begun to be systematically released into the Council's fleet custody; some were in rough shape but none of them had been tortured or mistreated apparently.

Their reports and interviews confirmed many of the observations and declarations of the humans: an alternate mean of FTL using some kind of wormhole manipulation; a massive energy shield protecting an entire colony settlement and a powerful army and fleet of warships of remarkable scale. Yet most of the turian forces who fought in Shanxi, including the flag officers of the Turian fleet and legion remained in human custody still.

The most interesting issue of the Terran Codex was this 'Erebus Nexus' superstation that according to the Codex was far larger than anything in the known galaxy including the Citadel. She would see it with her own eyes soon enough.

"Councilor Tevos the Terran Alliance diplomatic delegation is about to arrive" the executor officer of C-Sec informed her, through her office communicator.

"Thank you, Executor" she answered, before standing off her seat and marching out of her office.

Arriving at the Presidium docks a few minutes later she encountered her colleagues Prateus and Eshael awaiting for her, in company of two dozen C-Sec security officers forming a receiving line for their upcoming guests, barricades had been placed around the space port to contain the wave of civilians and press who were trampling on each other to get a peek on the aliens that had stir so much in so little time.

In the vast view of the gorgeous blue and purple nebula, stood a colossal ship of human design that stood nearly two kilometers long, surrounded on all sides by at least a hundred turian cruisers and frigates; its shape looked sturdy and angular yet elegant in some way, like a carnivorous silver fish from Thessia. The humans had designated that ship as the fleet carrier SSV Nicola Tesla.

Scanners had confirmed that besides her Point defense weaponry and her cargo of fighters and corvettes, the ship carried no weapons, but its size even longer than the Destiny Ascension was unnerving to say the least.

A single drop ship escorted by two fighters had been deployed from the carrier, and was on its way to the dock, where the Citadel welcoming committee awaited. Shouts and murmurs increased as the crowds outside wrestled with the C-Sec officers keeping them in place, finally in a span of minutes that felt like hours in Tevos' mind the human drop ship landed; it did not looked very different than the small military crafts use by the rest of the races in the known galaxy with thrusters and frame designed to maximize the use of the mass effect technology.

The ramp of the ship descended in a loud clank followed by the sound of steel clad boots hitting the floor as in a clear display of discipline and coordination sixteen soldiers encased in impressive exo-suits (known in the Terran codex as praetorian: Lancers) moved out of the ship in unison and immediately formed two lines with eight soldiers on each facing opposite to the other.

Then from the ship five beings came out:

The one leading the group was a female with yellow fur growing on her head, wearing an expensive-looking black formal suit with a metal pin on the neck. As most human females observed so far, she was good looking by asari standards, having the sharp features of an Asari matron; her name was known to Tevos and her fellow Councilors as it have been included in Matriarch Seloni's report; the Terran Ambassador Anita Goyle.

Following close behind was another female that wore an immaculate white military uniform; this one looked a little younger with paler skin and softer features but her manners were much more disciplined; living for centuries as a politician had given Tevos an insight on the conducts of each type of person no matter their species; with humans so similar to Asari it was even easier: The young woman's gaze was moving from place to place across the Presidium Space Port not in a nervous way but rather a patient and focused reaction, she was looking everywhere and everyone with analytical and clearly calculating eyes; which were of a golden yellow. A cold shudder went through Tevos's spine she was one of those individuals the humans called lilims. A genetic anomaly that gave some humans mind-altering powers according to the reports of Matriarch Seloni and the turian prisoners; these lilims remind Tevos a lot to another genetic anomaly within the Asari species; an infamous type of genetic abomination.

The Asari Councilor's thoughts were interrupted when the lilim's gaze settled in Tevos for a second that felt like a century and the ambient temperature felt as it have lowered several degrees; before the human moved her eyes elsewhere.

Following the two females were two males, one was taller than each of the two females by a full head and a palm; he was nearly at the height level of a turian. It was obvious that he was a soldier; the man was encased from head to toe in pitch black power armor with red stripes on the legs, shoulders and arms. The markings were those of an N7 commando; according to the codex they were an elite human Special Forces group just as tenacious and capable as the turian blackwatch or even the Council specters. His head the only part of his body not encased in steel had a small spot of black fur covering his chin and upper lip. His eyes were of a pale green, yet the most startling feature of his face were a myriad of scars, crisscrossing his pink skin, a reminder of combat experience; a warrior who knew blood as a krogan would say.

The other male was wearing a simple white and black uniform that looked more fitting for a scientist than a military officer; he had a clean shaven head and a carefully trimmed beard.

Yet the last being coming into view, with its large black body, multiple leg and tentacles sprouting from its back made Tevos' heart skipped a beat as a gasp of horror and surprise followed by a chorus of murmuring erupted from the crowds surrounding them. For the first in thousands of year of history a rachni was setting foot on the Citadel.

The C-Sec officers even though they did as ordered and kept their weapons in place looked at the rachni creature with a mix of fear and apprehension, ready to draw their weapons in the event that the monster dared to attack the Council.

She looked at her side; Prateus' changed his footing adopting a more defensive stance, military instinct kicking in his skull. As for Eshael she looked nervous; while Salarians did not sweat nor shiver because of cold or aggressive emotions, the rapid movement of her eyes and dilated pupils were clear signs of fear. The sixteen praetorians lowered their weapons and in a perfect coordination made a salute at their diplomats, in a clear show of respect that surprised even Tevos.

Taking the lead Tevos approached the Terran diplomatic party with Prateus and Eshael following her. The Terran ambassador approached them lowering her head in a sign of respect before putting both of her hands behind her back and standing straight waiting for the council to address them.

"Ambassador Goyle" Tevos began. "Welcome to the Citadel. I am Councilor Tevos representing the Asari Republics; next to me are Councilor Prateus and Councilor Eshael, representing the Turian Hierarchy and Salarian Union, respectably" she stated, the human female smiled in response.

"A privilege to meet you councilors, we are honored to be here, I am Ambassador Anita Goyle, representative of the Terran Alliance government. These are my companions…" she gestured to her group. "Major Brandon Dewitt our security chief, Doctor Isaac Tenembaum our scientific advisor and the ambassador of the Rachni Hive speaking for its chief of state Empress Maia with his interpreter Major Naomi Shokida" she explained, Tevos and her fellow Councilors suppressed a shudder when looking at the black tentacle creature that was the rachni brood warrior accompanying the humans.

"You did not tell us his name?" Councilor Prateus asked with suspicion, looking at Ambassador Goyle and then the Rachni brood warrior, but it was the younger human next to her who answered.

"Rachni do not have names as you would put them Councilor, they communicate one another through a wave of pheromones at short range and a quantum entanglement psi-link at long ranges. They refer to each other by their role in the structure of the hive; only a few of the queens have chosen names for themselves and only for communicating with… other species" she explained, before adopting a deadly serious tone. "This brood warrior here acts both as an independent being and a representative of the Hive's queens and empress, I act as his translator" she finished.

Tevos felt another chill going through her back, this was certainly one of the human lilim operatives described on the Codex, highly evolved beings capable of reading a sentient being feelings and reactions and even thoughts through effort. Looking back to Eshael and Prateus, both of them were also slightly nervous, many of the recently released turian officers had described in great detail their interrogations at the hands of their human captors, especially on the case of lilim interrogators.

In their interviews, the Turian officers claimed that the Lilims were like normal humans, but you could never lie to them, and every minute you spend with them, they managed to end up knowing more about you, that you knew about yourself. For instances in his report a Turian soldier named Kioren Platinus have described in terrific detail his interrogation by who he suspected to be a Lilim woman: when asked for the location of his homeworld of Palaven, he did not answer, thinking instead in his family back home and his younger sister who could be in danger if he reveal anything; then the human interrogator asked him about his sister even knowing her name and going so as to know facts about his personal life whose content could not have been recovered from computers or espionage. Focusing her mind to nothing and keeping her mental discipline in check, Tevos turned back to Ambassador Goyle.

"Now let's get to the point" ambassador Goyle stated. "Your ambassadors and the Alliance Parliament have agreed on a peace treaty containing several points of discussion: trade, borders, cultural exchange, colonial rights… We will like to discuss several topics" she explained receiving an holographic pad from the other female that she immediately handled it to Tevos, the letters were translated to Asari letters with a small section for Turian and Salarian language.

The information seemed to be in order, with logical and easily admissible demands: Like the establishment of a small demilitarized area between the borders; a clear set of controlled space for each species with areas of expansion; small fees for trade and as expected no technological exchange without direct authorization of the Alliance Parliament.

"Very well, follow us, we can begin drafting the final arrangements for a peaceful coexistence between our peoples" Tevos spoke with as much honesty as she could, while next to her Prateus released a heavy sight.

Two of the exo-suit wearing soldiers known as praetorian lancers separated from their group escorting the diplomatic party, while the councilors guided them through the presidium heading for the Tower of the Council.

"So what do you think of the Citadel ambassador?" Tevos asked, she was very puzzled by the human reactions more specifically the lack of it; the humans looked around at the presidium buildings and parks with curiosity but there was no glimpse of amazement or fascination. The gleaming presidium was beautiful, and it could easily shock any newcomer to the core, as a lingering proof of the scale and might of the Council and how impressive was the Citadel but the Terran Alliance representatives looked interested yet unimpressed at the presidium.

The male soldier in particular looked completely uninterested, as if he had lived there all his life.

"Certainly impressive, the dexterity and ingenuity of its builders is certainly a testament of the power of the Prothean Empire" Anita Goyle answered. "It reminds me a lot of the outer ring of the Erebus Nexus" she added.

"The seat of your joint government is it not?" the salarian councilor asked for the first time.

"Yes" it was the scientist the one who answered this time. "It was built by race we call the Juten, their planet was destroyed by a gravitational shift leaving as the sole survivors of their species those living in orbital stations. As they had no access to FTL technology or mass relays they survived for millennia by building a super space station capable of housing all that was left of their civilization, mining the shattered remains of their planet for resources which they could use to expand and maintain their station. But sadly they became extinct, completely vanishing from the face of the galaxy, leaving only their superstation as the sole legacy of their species."

"Just like the Protheans" Councilor Eshael spoke, her eyes now shinning with interest. "Fascinating, just how two great species capable of so much can end in such a way and have so similar outcomes."

"Galactic entropy some may say, the fate of every apex sentient race on the universe according to some theories" the lilim operative added, looking between the Salarian and her ambassador.

"Let's hope any of us shall not meet a similar fate" the human ambassador retorted. "Yet it took us decades to repair and reshape the Erebus Nexus; saying it was a colossal undertaking would be an understatement" she commented.

"I am interesting to see your capital one day then, besides the Citadel and the former mining station of Omega in the Terminus Systems I doubt there is anything in the galaxy capable of standing in comparison to it" Eshael added.

"Hopefully if these negotiations go smoothly, we can arrange for that" Ambassador Goyle answered, smiling with honesty.

Soon the group arrived at the Citadel embassies, as the great doors of the enormous building opened up for them there was a quick exchange of glances between the Turian Councilor and the human officer Major Dewitt, Tevos was hoping that tangible hostility between the two, would not compromise the discussion.

-.

**Half an hour later; Council conference room**

"This can't be right" Tevos nearly yelled as she read through the list of products and goods the Alliance was willing to trade.

The price of eezo in Alliance space, when converted to Citadel credits even with a higher exchange ratio was much lower than that of Asari eezo. This could not be, it was no secret that the rich eezo deposits of Thessia and much of the Asari colonies were perhaps the most critical source of wealth for the Asari Republics; a change of eezo prices in Thessia caused for example by either the exploitation of new deposit or the exhaustion of another altered the costs, offer and demand of the entire galactic market share.

_Where there is eezo, there is wealth_ as the saying goes.

With a much cheaper trade of eezo coming from the Alliance entering the galactic market, the Republics could suffer an economic crisis worse than any war in recorded history.

"That is the price of element zero in conversion to your currency Councilor; the prices for other critical resources are included as well" Ambassador Goyle explained, signaling the pad.

Tevos, her fellow councilors and other advisors scrolled down the pad; seeing the exchange rates of other goods; most notably minerals, to their surprise and perhaps relief the prices of the most valuable minerals critical to industry and space travel: Titanium, lithium, iridium, palladium and platinum were relatively equal or not too different from those extracted in Citadel Space.

"But the price of eezo?" Tevos asked in near disbelieve. "How can you keep the price of element zero so low in comparison to other resources?"

"Well that is simple Councilor" the human scientific advisor Dr. Tenembaum took the word. "Most of our eezo is extracted from our colonies of Praxis and Glacies in the Scorpio-Epsilon System; both planets have enormous and rich deposits of eezo; with a thriving industry around it."

"Also as you know the Alliance has an alternate mean of FTL, our rift gate technology and an alternate source of power for our capital ships; not only military but also commercial and civilian. Most of our largest vessels like the Fleet Carrier Nicola Tesla, the very ship in stable hover next to your station, are entirely reliant on the rift jump FTL; they do not require eezo for their construction and operation. Also our extended use of the rift gates above the mass relays, have allow us to spend considerable less resources which among other consequences have resulted in a low demand of eezo, in comparison to the species of the rest of the galaxy of course."

Tevos swallowed the information quickly; she would need to place considerable trading taxes on Terran eezo to prevent commerce with the Alliance from bankrupting the Asari Republics. Other minerals and goods were on a reasonable exchange rate. Yet no technology above simple computer processors or medical products was authorized for sell, military hardware was completely off limits and illegal appropriation of rift gate technology was a valid cause for war.

Having the Alliance as a new trading partner would very likely shake the markets but it could act as a boom to a stagnated galactic economy, yet it was the next item of the diplomatic list that made Tevos took a deep breath in anticipation, for a long discussion.

"The Rachni Hive wishes to reclaim their homeworld of Suen and their home system of Maskim Xul" the lilim interpreter stated, holding one of the tentacles of the rachni ambassador on her hand.

The councilor and their advisors exchanged looks all of them completely against any type of rachni movement into Citadel space, much less the settlement of millions of rachni in the heart of their territory.

"The Maskim Xul System is well within the arranged borders of Citadel Space" the Turian Councilor addressed the terran group. "Ceding the system to the Alliance could compromise the integrity of Citadel Space; also most of our colonists would not like to have rachni in proximity to their planets. In any case why do you want Suen? It's nothing than a toxic wasteland with a side of the planet completely scorched by the sun and the other more frozen than an asteroid."

"Councilor the rachni understand your distrust, they were once used as weapons by the protheans and their lack of perspective and paranoia led into a war with the Asari and Salarians but they are not the same as they once were" the lilim answered. "As for Suen, the planet may lacks both resources and a stable environment yet it is still the homeworld and cradle of the rachni, they want to walk upon it again" she stated looking at the ground.

"The Alliance is willing to place a rift gate in the system to connect the system with the rest of the Rachni Hive, without compromising the integrity of Citadel Space" she added.

Tevos paused for a moment exchanging gazes with their colleagues and advisors; the turian Councilor's face look as he would rather fuck a vorcha female than allow the rachni to claim a system that it was in the middle of Citadel Space and only a few mass relays from both the Citadel and the Krogan DMZ, if the humans could gain the support of both the rachni and krogans; even the turians may not stand a chance. The Salarian councilor instead looked exited, even eager perhaps; Tevos knew what he was thinking, if the humans were to place a rift gate on the rachni home system, it would give the Salarian STG a clear tech sample from which they could reverse engineer the technology; even if they could never get close enough to study it at close, the radiation and energy signatures could give them a glimpse at understanding the mechanism behind the wormhole manipulation.

But having a rift gate inside Citadel Space was like opening the back door of your house allowing an enemy to enter; if another war began the humans would have a considerable advantage with a beach head so close to their most vital systems.

"I'm afraid we cannot allow that ambassador, for better or worse the Maskim Xul System has been claimed by the Citadel Council for almost two millennia; we cannot allow a military danger so deep within our borders" Tevos stated looking at the rachni bug instead of the human lilim.

"We understand Councilor" the lilim interpreter answered. "But the rachni will ask for the permission to perform pilgrimages to Suen under your supervision of course, in order to visit their ancient homeworld"

Tevos and her colleagues nodded, that they could allow within reason.

"Now moving to the next item of the…" Ambassador Goyle began.

-.

**2155.08.14**

**SSV Porphyrion; Alliance prison ship crossing mass relay**

A ship the size of an alliance frigate modified to transport prisoners of considerable value and danger, crossed the wave of energy from the mass relay entering into FTL; heading for the very heart of the enemy territory.

Near the cockpit on a long row of seats not designed for Turian anatomy were cuffed together the most high ranking officers of the disastrous turian expedition into Terran Space.

General Desolas Arterius looked around him, between his Turian brethren Admirals Justinius, Victus, Survan, General Orinia, Coronel Nuzzra and his human guards.

"Stand ready we are about to arrive" the human guard ordered them, Desolas recognize him it was the same male human that have performed one of his interrogations while in custody at the prison located in a frozen planet known as Persephone; his rank and name was specialist Jack Harper apparently. Next to him was a golden fur female Eva Core with her cold eyes locked on Superior Admiral Justinius.

"You should be grateful that we didn't have you killed after that stun you pull back in Fujian-Alpha" she declared with hatred to Admiral Justinius. "What kind of admiral sacrifices his entire fleet to save his own hide?"

_Her words were not unfounded; many of the officers, sailors and soldiers had been outraged at the risky and selfish retreat of their supreme commander at the height of the battle._

"Do not pretend to understand me human" Admiral Justinius replied with disdain on his voice. "My soldiers were ready to die following my orders; and what? You want us to thank you for killing our brothers and sisters? Where in the spirits are you taking us?" he demanded.

"Home" the human female simply answered.

"So, you are transporting us to a prison camp in your homeworld of Earth" Admiral Survan asked from her seat.

"Not at all" another human male this one looking younger with darker skin answered.

"We have arrived" the pilot a woman, with black hair and a raspy accent different to that of the rest of the humans declared. "You guys should probably take a good look" she said as the prisoners were conducted off their seats by black clad guards into the open glass cabin at the front of the ship.

Desolas's eyes went wide as he stood from his seat and looked through the huge open window of the ship's cockpit; the all too familiar purple and blue background of the Widow Nebula; with the silver shape of the five arm Citadel in the horizon.

_The Citadel how? _He though as he looked the fleet surrounding the station, hundreds of turian cruisers stood in formation with the colossal silhouette of the Asari super dreadnought Destiny Ascension at the center of the fleet, there were only half a dozen human ships with a massive vessel longer than two turian dreadnoughts on the lead.

"The war is over turian" the specialist Jack Harper stated.

The turians exchanged gazes as a combination of both relief and concern overwhelmed them, they were not sure how their people would receive them. Either as war heroes fighting for the empire and the Citadel or as war criminals responsible for starting a war that could have taken the life of millions.

There was a good chance that the latter would be, considering that they have acted under Hierarchy's order but without the approval of the Council; not to mention that they have breached one of the most important accords of galactic rules of engagement: bombardment of a garden world.

"Human vessel this is Citadel traffic control you are authorized to land in Dock 3F-15" an Asari voice said through the comms. "Do not deviate from the intended fly plan" the voice added.

"Copy, traffic control" the pilot answered as the ship approached the five arms station.

-.

After the ship landed on the Presidium Space Port, the turian officers were released from their cufflinks and guided to the open hatch by their human escort.

Desolas was surprised to see an entire crowd of people from every species on Citadel space watching them from the balconies and terraces overlooking the space port; there were dozens of her fellow Turians, Asari, Salarians, the short and tubby Volus, the large and corpulent Elcors and even a few Hanars their red-pink bodies hovering with their long legs over the crowd. To his dismay many of them seemed to share little sympathy for them and even less joy at their return. A few even looked at them with some traces of disdain.

He was even more surprised to see his brother Saren amongst the Citadel officers receiving them; relief filled him but his mandibles clenched together upon laying eyes on two humans speaking with an Asari commander; he knew them well General George Williams the commander of Shanxi's garrison and next to them still in his black clad armor was that Special Forces officer who captured them Captain Brandon Dewitt.

The captain of the prison ship addressed the Asari officer while holding an holo pad in his hand. "Matriarch Lindaya in accordance to the article 3 of the peace treaty between the Terran Alliance and the Citadel Council I release these prisoners into your custody."

"Thank you Captain" the commander of the Citadel fleet answered.

As the humans cleared the way for them, several C-Sec officers rushed towards them, a few human guards instantly placed their hands on their weapons but a signal from their commanding officer made them stand down. The C-Sec officers all of them turians instead surrounded a stunned Admiral Justinius, as the remaining flag officer cleared the way.

The executor himself addressed the confused turian admiral. "Admiral Justinius you are under arrest for violating the Citadel Accords and perform heavy mass accelerator orbital bombardment on a garden world."

The C-Sec constables escorted the now newly handcuffed turian officer as the rest of the group began muttering to each other.

Saren approached Desolas, sharing a few words with him explaining the origin of the new scars on his facial carapace, telling him of the fall of both Parvis Marna and Haliat, something that left Desolas without words. The humans have retreated from those systems nevertheless after the signing of the armistice between the two nations.

As the group began to withdraw from the space port Desolas instead moved to have a word with the two human officers, who received him with barely disguised contempt.

"So General Williams, I hope you are enjoying the glory of your victory" he ranted in a tone that border mocking. "It only cost you a few thousand lives."

"Well I don't see your people celebrating their defeats" the general simply answered with a predatory smile. "It was not the Terran Alliance the one which lost three fleets and an entire legion containing more than a hundred thousand soldiers; at the very least we are now in peace" the old general boomed with pride; but said the last word with some level of mockery.

"You know, this is not over General Williams" Desolas threatened with a voice cold as ice, looking down on the far shorter officer; Saren stood beside him looking at the N7 soldier with disdain.

"No, believe me I know General Arterius" he answered. "This is only the beginning" he stated before turning around and following the black clad guards into the ship.

And waiting at the hatch were standing Specialist Jack Harper and Operative Eva Core, both of them looking at Desolas and Saren with ice blue calculating eyes.

-.

**2155.08.15**

**SSV Vienna, docked with the QFV Rayya**

**Frontier of the Attican Traverse**

The Alliance have sent a secret message to the quarians several days ago asking them to meet in secret, in order to honor the friendship forged four decades ago at the frozen world of Kaldir; and finally cement an alliance between the quarians and the humans. While the Admiralty board was hesitant on revealing their secret location and movements, and even more hesitant on allowing the discussion to occur at all; as they feared the Turian and Council retribution if they believe they were in cahoots with the Terran Alliance.

The peace talks between the Alliance and the Citadel have convinced the conclave to invite the human representatives to expose their terms for a possible coalition of independent species forming a united front against the Citadel Council and the imperialistic turians.

A stealth frigate came out of hiding bringing as soon as the transmission was received by the Alliance High Command, surprising the still distrustful aliens; yet the biggest surprise have been the name of the Terran Ambassador who have come within the ship.

It was a historic moment when the children of old friends who have met long ago on a frozen planet where humanity have experienced its first contact with a sentient alien species found themselves standing face to face with each other, old friends who just met. The open plaza on the heart of the near three kilometer long quarian live ship was one of the only areas of the ship not cramped with quarian crewmen, passengers and cargo; and the gathering of dozens of quarians representing every ship and ship in the Migrant Fleet left absolutely no doubt that the quarians were eager to hear the words of the human emissaries.

Completely encased in a zero atmosphere suit after passing through a long decontamination process, Admiral James Su Kwon son of the two legendary crewmembers of the SSV Michigan Missuro Su Kwon and Luna Da Silva; stood next to the quarian captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler daughter of the quarian marine Daon'Nuzzra vas Alarei, decades ago their parents have fought shoulder to shoulder in order to save their fellow crewmen from a gang of Batarian slavers, and now their children were side by side; as a new generation to brace the arrival of a new era.

"Admiral Su Kwon, it's an honor to finally meet you" the admiralty board bid him welcome. "We have seen the reports and records of your victories against the turians, you truly are a master strategist" a quarian admiral complimented through his modulated voice.

The holo recordings and tales of Admiral Su Kwon's battles have filtered into the extranet and few could believe how it was possible for the mighty turian fleet to be so utterly defeated in every engagement. Hundreds, maybe thousands of military analysts from every species including the quarians have been studying the records of the turian-human war to examine every detail about human technology, tactics and military doctrines.

Many were baffled by the terran extended use of fighter crafts and carrier type ships; long standing galactic doctrine placed emphasis on long range firepower, dreadnoughts were the pride of every galactic fleet, a costly endeavor to build and deploy any of them; while still puzzled by the placement of ships of dreadnought scale without dreadnought spinal mounted weaponry, no one could deny the impressive performance of the carrier ships, with their precise bombardment rounds on capital ships and their fighter screens protecting the fleets from other fast attack ships.

The terran wormhole manipulation as the quarian and turian analysts have begun to refer to the use of rift opening jumps also gave the humans a lot of tactical flexibility. On the battles of Alarakh and the Julta System; the humans have repeated the tactics employed on the liberation of Fujian-Alpha:

The battle of Julta System in particular have been a completely one sided battle, Julta held some of the largest orbital docks and shipyards in the entire Hierarchy, it was one of their most defended systems yet the human navy under the command of Admiral Elizabeth Comstock have obliterated the entire system defense fleet and orbital defenses within the spam of minutes. With a fleet centered around two dreadnoughts with one fleet carrier alongside one drone carrier standing against three full turian fleets; Admiral Comstock have ordered their drone fighters to rush into the turian orbital defense grid; planting gravity well beacons right within the planet's orbit and 'behind' the orbital defense platforms, allowing two dreadnoughts and two escort carriers to rift jump into those positions.

With the planet behind them ensuring that any miss shot by the turian ships would be making an impact on the garden world and the orbital defense platforms out of position the turian fleet was left flanked and cornered; the dreadnoughts and alliance bombers made quick work of the orbital platforms and many of their capital ships. Mopping the remaining turian ships have been an easy work; the humans have given a name to the new tactic The Comstock Pinzer; while the turians have granted an infamous tittle to the dreaded human Admiral Comstock: The butcher of Halliat.

The engagement on Parvis Marna have not turned up much different, turian forces have been completely overwhelmed, there was denying it any more, a new superpower have emerged on the other side of the galaxy.

"I am honored to be here admirals I will go straight to the point, humanity and the Terran Systems Alliance owes a debt of gratitude to the quarian people for providing us with Intel and critical data about the other space faring species of the known galaxy" he began.

"As well as keeping our existence a secret all these years; mankind was not ready to enter the greater galactic community forty six years ago but for better or worse we need to be ready now; and we could certainly use allies" he made a pause as he allowed his words to sink into the crowd of gathered quarians who began murmuring with each other and the admirals standing on the podium keeping silence; even though Su Kwon suspected the military officers were still speaking on secure private channels through their helmet coms.

"So you are offering us an alliance between the human… Terran Alliance and the Quarian Migrant Fleet, what are you offering us? And are you not concerned about the reaction of the Citadel Council, helping us would put your ascension process into the Citadel associated races in jeopardy" one of the admirals asked.

"The Terran Alliance is not interested nor is capable of entering into the position of a Citadel associated species" the human admiral answered to a new row of murmuring across the crowd. "As you know the protocol for becoming an associated race of the Council has several requirements including the signing of The Treaty of Farixen, we are not too eager in reducing our number of dreadnoughts to the benefit of the turians after we have just went to war with them, despite the fact that the Alliance Navy relies more on carriers and heavy cruisers or that our existing dreadnoughts are worth three turian second line dreadnoughts" he smiled as he said that.

"Also as you may probably know the Alliance has an overextended use of technologies that are illegal in Citadel Space, like controlled genetic modification and…" he made an uncomfortable pause. "Fully self-aware artificial intelligence" his words caused a storm of murmuring and a troubled exchange of gazes amongst the quarians.

"We were aware of your use of AIs admiral, but we were not expecting that your species would have… well survive so long by keeping active fully self-aware AIs alongside you, there are multiple Council's laws against the development and use of artificial intelligence and the quarians know better than anyone the dangers of allowing your own creation to achieve consciousness and surpass you" one of the other admirals declared.

"Our AIs are not the geth admiral" Su Kwon countered. "But in any case we understand your mistrust of synthetics or of any type of support the Alliance can provide the quarians you will be able to discuss any of those subjects soon if that is your wish" he made a pause smiling wide and taking a deep breath.

"In a couple of days the Alliance government will celebrate a peace summit on our capital the Erebus Nexus; we have sent an invitation to all of the Citadel races as well as a few outside the Council's oversight and we will grant an invitation to the quarian people to attend the summit" he allowed a pause in order to allow his words to take impact.

Murmuring erupted from the benches filled with quarian ship representatives, as the admirals exchanged looks.

"What subjects will be discuss in this summit?" one of the admirals asked.

"We have already set a basic agreement of diplomatic relations with the Citadel Council; including borders and trade, but our leaders want to meet with the representatives of any mayor power and cement our cooperative relations with the other species" the human admiral explained. "More than anything it will be a cultural exchange moment, where we will formally introduce ourselves to the greater galaxy" he added.

"If you accept the invitation you are to send an envoy ship through the relay 314 into the Fujian-Alpha System where a recently placed rift gate will lead the ships into the Jotunheim System" he finished.

The quarian admirals exchanged gazes and again it looked as if they were discussing with each other through a private channel.

"Very well, we will prepare a diplomatic delegation to speak with your leaders" the admiralty board conceded, as Admiral Su Kwon smiled and nodded.

-.

**2155.08.18**

**ARH Cybaen about to cross the rift gate in orbit of Shanxi**

**Fujian-Alpha System, Lambda Expanse**

Nerves were something Asari matriarchs didn't usually experienced on a daily basis, living for a thousand years left few things remaining to be dreaded or excited about. But she and her fellow ambassadors had an ominous feeling on their guts, upon laying eyes to the ripple of energy growing until becoming a tear on the fabric of time and space; like a quantum singularity contained by the silver ring that was the rift gate. They have already passed through a small size portal inside the super dreadnought but this was something completely out of scale.

She lowered her gaze and focused on the holographic map detailing the small fleet of ships from every space faring species on this side of the galaxy: the Cybaen contained the Council delegation but every mayor power have been invited as well and all of them have rushed at the chance to talk with the human leaders and received preferential treatment at commerce or diplomatic relations.

A volus cruiser (well a modified turian cruiser) contained a diplomatic envoy alongside a large number of bank executives and representatives of large corporations, a small Elcor freighter served as the transport for the envoys of The Courts of Dekuuna; the hanar religious and diplomatic party with an escort of drell operatives were on a small hanar frigate and to the surprise of many, the quarians, krogans and even the batarians have been invited as well; even though the latter were seen with suspicious and barely disguised disdain by all of those present, including the humans.

Receiving the confirmation signal from their human escort the fleet moved forward towards the rift gate with some apprehension from all of the helmsmen and the ship crews. As the ships crossed the threshold their sensors and systems were overwhelmed by a wave of gravitational anomalous readings, static energy and quantum fluctuations. Many of the Council analysts were hopping with all their hearts that those readings would be a first step towards the reverse engineering of the rift gate technology.

But the rift crossing was nothing compared to what received them upon arriving at the other side. Sensors and the sight from the very windows were almost incapable of convincing the passengers of every vessel that what they were seeing was real.

"By the goddess" Matriarch Seloni exclaimed upon seeing the camera views and the holographic display, at the display several levels of zoom out were needed to show the full scale of the superstation.

"This is…" the turian ambassador stuttered. "Is the Erebus Nexus…? The human station capital?" he asked without breath, his lowered chin practically risking hitting the floor in profound surprise.

"The outer ring of the station has a diameter of 122,7 kilometers, making a circumference of almost 400 kilometers long, 385,5 to be precise" an Asari technician exclaimed almost without breath. "There is a large asteroid contained within a smaller structural ring; even through all the heavy metals contained in the asteroid the sensor can detect that there is an energy signature completely out of normal scale within it. It's like a neutron star, but without gravimetric signatures, I don't know how is this possible" she explained looking at the computer screens with disbelieve.

"It's like a twisted over scaled merging of the Citadel and Omega" the Salarian ambassador said.

He was not wrong; there were similarities to both the Citadel and Omega, eight large protrusions sprouted from the outer ring; not too different from the arms of the Citadel, according to the codex the humans called them pylons. Smaller asteroids were also connected to the structure holding the two rings and main facilities, it looked as if they were being used as construction yards and dry-docks for human ships.

The structural arms serving as the framework for the station; held several rift gates connected together like a web of different size rings, with ships entering and exiting all those that were active. Hundreds of human ships hovered around the station, both military and civilian.

As soon as the final ship of the diplomatic fleet crossed the rift gate the singularity broke and the tear closed while a message arrived every vessel detailing the docking flight plan intended for them.

Jhana Seloni had a million questions about every detail not included on the Codex send to them; she was hopping the humans would be open enough to answer some of them.

-.

After docking and disembarking the diplomatic delegations were gathered up together in an open plaza at the outer ring; Jhana looked around the contained environment reminded her of the Citadel Presidium, but while the lush presidium was composed of small parks, artificial lakes yet also tall shining buildings like the embassies and most critical corporate offices the Erebus Nexus outer ring was primarily covered in parks, crop plots, artificial lakes and small water channels; a completely green plain, that feed the station's population and served as relaxation site for visitors and inhabitants alike.

Artificial sunlight shone above their heads with the roof structure projecting a fake blue sky, the sensation was warm on her skin. The smells were also slightly similar to those on the fields of Thessia even though there was none of the eezo in the air of the human station unlike that of her homeworld; the gravity was similar to that of the Citadel as well, a comfortable 1G imitating that of the human homeworld of Earth generated by the station constant spinning around its axis.

On the large park where the diplomatic parties were gathered, the krogans with their large bodies stood out from the rest; representatives from clans Urdnok, Jorghal, Nakmor and weyrloc seemed eager and inpatient as they could be; yet their eyes and manners showed that they were also impressed by the station size and splendor.

A large number of terran guards were next to them ready to intervene in the case any krogan were to do something reckless; also their guards were different to the 'normal' human soldier, their armors were blue with gold and white trimming, shining and immaculate, also as not one of them used helmets it was easy to see the diverse racial differences within the humans; skin tones, eye colors, height and hair colors.

The quarian delegation was small but a large number of human guides and advisors stood next to them, it was clear that the terrans wanted to bring the suit rats into their camp; based on everyone's first impressions of the Erebus Nexus and the rift gates, it was certain that whatever the humans were selling the quarians would most likely buy it.

With their chubby and short bodies the volus were hard to miss, they crowded the human guides with questions; the Elcor and Hanar instead remained quiet looking between their representatives and the terrans surrounding them.

And finally the batarians also kept quiet yet they spoke between themselves with arrogant comments and sassy glares at the human female escorts.

"Honored guests" a human male in a black expensive looking business suit called for them drawing their attention and signaling to a group of hovering platforms big enough to carry them. "Please follow us; we will take you to the Parliament building" he explained.

The different parties climbed into the hovering platforms; when everyone was onboard the vehicles started flying across the ring, slow enough to give the visitors a great view tour of the circumferential environment; lakes and artificial rivers cut through the crop rectangles, forests and green pastures; there were tall buildings on the edges of the ring which offered a great view of the parks and agricultural zones, most likely they were the apartments and offices with the highest price on the station; homes to politicians, executives, corporate and military officers.

There were also suspended railways with trains traveling through them, giving the circumferential shape of the ring and the absence of flying cars, most of the inhabitants may be moving by train alone.

"Beautiful" one of the Asari delegates exclaimed looking at the artificial green landscape but her expression turned from amazement to a mix of confusion and fascination upon seeing a flock of black birds flying above the fields.

"You have birds inside the station?" she asked one of their guides. Having animals free to roam a contained environment was naïve and stupid; they would multiply, spread diseases or consume everything without predators and regulatory means to keep them under control; driving the contained ecosystem into collapse.

"Those aren't birds" the human guide answered. "They are drones shaped like birds that are meant to pollinate the crops and plants as well as keeping watch over the readings of temperature, humidity and bacteria; within the atmosphere" he explained.

"Having them shape and acting like birds helps to show, a more natural scenery" another added; the Asari nodded in response.

As the platforms crossed another stretch of the ring, the shape of a large complex of buildings came into view, a massive architectural triumph stood in front of a central plaza with a gigantic fountain in the epicenter surrounded by statues, sculptures and most striking of all, hundreds of different flags; a whole kaleidoscope of colors detailing the multiple nations that made humanity. The platforms landed in an open area next to an enormous garden with rows and rows of flowers perfectly aligned next to each other.

Crowning the plaza was a fountain with a metal sphere depicting the human homeworld of Earth with its oceans and continents. While the parliament building casted a long shadow over them when the artificial sunlight was directed behind it.

The Terran Parliament was an over one hundred story building, a palace of white and black marble, shinning steel and reflective glass. Layer over layer of shapes and materials made a magnificent frontage that transmitted to all the meaning of the Parliament as a place of power; a paradigm of the style humans refer to as Neo Deco.

On the main entrance hundreds of soldiers and military officers stood in formation, with a few officers wearing formal uniforms mounted a top large four legged beasts, horses as they were called; an honor guard serving as a welcoming committee.

After crossing the front gates the different groups came into the main hall; for Jhana it felt similar to the Citadel Embassies' entrance, with the VI hologram Avina receiving all guests. The place reminded also her to a museum as well with various screens showing videos of pass critical events in the history of the Alliance; alongside commemorative plaques carrying names of those long gone, a statue made of copper was near the center; beneath it in a was written 'Julian Francis Xavier' 'First Prime Minister of the Terran Systems Alliance' with a phrase beneath it, written in multiple human languages 'coalescerent in caelum – United beneath one sky'.

From the balconies and top floors were crowds of journalists and press officials with drones hovering around the hall, taking videos and readings of such a critical historical moment. But Jhana and many of the Citadel party were not interested in them; their eyes were fixed on a two crystal cylinders each of them containing the bones of a type of alien none of them have ever seen before: One of them would make even a krogan or elcor look puny its bones conforming a body being at least four meters tall; while the other was of regular humanoid size its shape being somehow familiar to Jhana.

Many of the guests crowded around the glass cylinders curious about the two beings contained inside, whoever or whatever they were; suddenly a holographic human female appeared next to them, her skin was a light tanned tone yet her clothes looked as something tribal and ancient, certainly revealing as many Asari smiled at her, enraptured by her luscious body, yet their smiles disappeared in an instant.

"Welcome honored guests to the Terran Alliance Parliament I am LAKSHMI, overseer AI of the Erebus Nexus; I see you are curious about the pavilion honoring the elder races; that helped cement the Alliance's Journey into the stars. The protheans and the Jutens" she explained gesturing to the two glass cylinders.

Everyone exchanged aghast looks; the quarians and Asari above all upon speaking with a fully sentient AI yet their trains off though were stop dead on their tracks when the mention of the protheans hit them. Jhana now knew why the smaller skeleton looked familiar; its shape was similar to those paintings on the Temple of Athame in Armali, Thessia.

"It's heretical to keep the remnants of an enkindler's body as a trophy in such a way" a Hanar religious envoy declared to the AI, his body shinning with each word. "It's thanks to the enkindlers that every species on the known galaxy including the humans is able to sail through the void. Their greatest achievements the mass relays and the Citadel have shaped the galactic civilization" the hanar stated.

"We do not mean to disrespect the legacy and memory of the protheans, preacher Sarude" the AI answered identifying the hanar's name and tittle. "The protheans achievements and failures are lessons to be learned; having the bones of a prothean soldier we found on a dig site in the seat of our government is a way to honor and pay homage to the debt of gratitude we owe to the protheans" she explained turning towards the prothean skeleton container.

"Our studies of prothean civilization and history have uncovered a treasure trove almost as valuable as their technology" she made a pause. "And with all due respect preacher, our records of the history of the Prothean Empire determined that it wasn't the protheans those who originally built the mass relays" a confused gasp came from all those present.

"At least not all them, space faring races came before the protheans and constructed the first mass relays; the protheans with the help of a synthetic race known as the reapers just carried on with the work and built new mass relays connecting the entire galaxy and building the Citadel as a nexus for the entire relay network, their imperial capital as they called it. But the rebellion of the synthetic reapers ended with the protheans and every other space faring nation they have inducted into their empire as subservient races eradicated. Leaving their ruins for the young civilizations to build upon" she finished before adopting a more serious expression.

"And before any of you ask; yes I am an AI created by terran hands, conceived through advanced code and neural scans of selected and voluntary human subjects. There are three AIs overseeing operations on the Erebus Nexus: ODIN handles defense, intelligence and security; RA handles energy production, maintenance and industry; while I, LAKSHMI handle Health, education and social wellbeing" she explained. "Any of you have any other questions?" she asked.

One of the quarians shyly asked. "What about the Jutens what is the importance of them in your history for you to include them in a… monument to the elder races?"

The AI hologram moved to the larger skeleton; the monstrous creature looked even bigger than a Yagh; with very long arms and legs; its head was similar in shape to that of a turian with a very large mouth containing a row of sharp fangs; six fingers protruded from each hand similar to human hands, but their length and width was more akin to the digits on turian and quarian's limbs; two pair of eyes were on their faces, with a larger eye above and a smaller bellow on each side.

"This particular specimen was given the name Rosetta by the archeological team. The Jutens were the species who built the Erebus Nexus's framework; their planet was left uninhabitable by a gravity ship in their solar system; without FTL technology they meshed all their orbital space stations together in one huge superstation, expanding it generation after generation by mining and harvesting the asteroid field that was created by their planet's destruction."

"The construction process lasted for at least eight thousand years; and they were forced to survive with whatever resources they could get from their mining and recycling operations. Because of the size of their remnants we have called them Juten, the name derives from an old human Nordic dialect that means giant; but based on our studies the archeologists and paleontologists have theorized that the original jutens were not so big and tall as those found; and that generations living in artificial gravity's environments altered them; their bones and muscles stretching by the lack of gravitational limits. But the lack of radiation containment on their housing and prolong exposure to a zero G environment produced serious damage to their physiology, organ systems and reproductive cells; leading them to extinction" she finished.

"In any case we the Terrans owe a debt of gratitude to both the protheans and jutens not only by the material relics they left us but by the lessons their history has given us" she stated. "Now please follow our guides who will lead all of you to the Conference Hall"

As if on cue the terran escorts signaled them to follow while the hologram of the AI LAKSHMI vanished into thin air and a cloud of photons. All the guests followed their escorts while Jhana heard one of the batarians speaking under his breath about the prothean skeleton possessing six eyes, as he arrogantly scoffed about how having multiple eyes marked the superiority of one species over the others with only two eyes.

Covered by wood and noble metals the conference hall of the Parliament looked fit to be an Asari great palace or a concert hall; the three ambassadors from the Citadel sat on a small desk directly facing the Alliance Primer Minister Natasha Ferro who was seated on the very center of the main elliptical desk surrounded by her cabinet.

Next to main podium where the desks belonging to other high ranking representatives like the ambassador for the semi-independent Praxian Directorate, the Rachni Hive and the Synthetic Assembly. In the rows of seats forming a semi-circle around the center sat the speakers from all Earth nations and colonies alongside military officers, scientific advisors and industrialists. The representatives of independent and Citadel associated races were placed in the closest seat rows as witnesses the relationship between the Council and the Terran Alliance would be the centerpiece of this meeting; the relations with their races would come later in a more private type of meetings.

-.

The discussion between the Citadel ambassadors and the Alliance leadership did not last long; most of the arrangements detailing the borders with areas of expansion for the different nations, as well as the formal diplomatic and business relations have already been arranged by Ambassador Anita Goyle and the Citadel Council.

As the Alliance could not and would not join into the Citadel list of associated species; their position would be that of an _Observant Independent Power_ with no requirement in signing the Treaty of Farixen or other Citadel agreements besides the signing of the charter of rights of sentient species and the Citadel Accords detailing the rules of war, treatment of war prisoners and prohibition to conduct heavy orbital bombardment of any garden world.

There was also the trouble of opening an embassy on the Citadel, as the right to possess an embassy on the Citadel was reserved only to those species which have already completed their ascension process, a process which was created following an Asari lifespan so the operation of bureaucracy to earn admittance into the select group that was the Citadel could be that of decades if not centuries. The last race to gain an embassy in the Presidium the Batarians had to wait for a hundred years before receiving the OK from the Council. And opening an embassy on the 'seat of galactic power' was more than formalizing relations with the three main races and their associated species it was recognizing the authority of the Council in all galactic affairs.

In the end it was decided that each superpowers would open not an embassy but a consulate in each nation's capital. The Terran Alliance was to open a consulate on the Citadel while the Council's species would jointly open a consulate on the Erebus Nexus; both sides recognizing the authority and legitimacy of the other in their respective side of the border.

The final issues of the meeting derived into the trading arrangements between the various corporations and the most efficient trade routes. Those planets located on the borders of each power would serve as trading posts; for commercial ships, within the Alliance border those planets selected as trading posts would contain a rift gate in order to allow any Citadel ship with appropriate authorization to travel through the confines of the relay non-connected Terran Space.

The most conflictive issue of the new peace treaty was the 'southern border' of Terran Space their colonies closest to Batarian Space; the "generous donation" of colonial rights to the undeveloped portion of space known as the Skyllian Verge from the Council to the Terran Alliance as "a gesture of good will" would certainly put the humans at odds with the Hegemony just as the Council intended. A poisonous gift if there was any.

The Batarians present have protested against it and the Alliance Parliament declared in response that they were not very interested in colonizing the Skyllian Verge as they have already had a hundred undeveloped colonies within their space; a trading arrangement and a more official set of border between the Batarian Hegemony and the Terran Alliance would be discussed later.

After the official talks were finally over the ambassadors and the Prime Minister with her cabinet placed their signatures on the Treaty and ended any further official conflict between the humans and the Citadel species.

With an end to meeting all the guests were conducted outside the conference hall into a large meeting hall for a feast celebrating an end to the war and the beginning of hopefully a new era of peace, with humanity finally unveiling itself to the rest of the galaxy. The huge hall provided a magnificent view of the plaza through an entire glass curtain wall; long rows of tables covered with all types of food filled the hall around a medium size fountain with a detailed sculpture in the center.

-.

For the quarian captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler the feast on the Parliament's great hall was a party that she would never forget; mostly because she had never been in an actual party or feast. In the migrant fleet resources were scarce most of the time and during the pilgrimage there were few opportunities where you could get invited into a feast truly worthy of the name even if you found and made alien friends capable of helping you.

To the surprise and joy of Shaira and her crew, there was a large table with dextro amino acid food coming from a human colony with a rich dextro based environment; apparently while they humans were a levo based species they have found and kept several dextro type plants and organisms for scientific purposes.

A human guide close to them gestured with his arm towards a group of fried purple eels. "You should taste the morganic eels; don't worry they are not toxic, not one of our turian war prisoners complained about them; the turians are efficient guinea pigs and completely clueless about what the morganic eels eat" the man smirked before releasing a laughter that was shared by the rest of the human guides.

While Shaira did not know what a guinea pig was, she looked towards the other dextro based guests enjoying their meals; it seemed the humans were sincere. The Turian delegation which have arrived in the Cybaen, were still distrustful of the human yet they were devouring a feast of dark purple color eels covered with a yellow sauce with true gusto.

"They are especially delicious with mustard" the guide added.

Quarians were not accustomed on eating meat so Shaira and most of her crew shyly approached the dextro marked table where fruit containers stood: yellow, purple and dark blue fruits and vegetables called for them. Eating them was not easy, they needed to have them processed into a paste and sterilized before swallowing the mashed paste.

She ate first not as a right of captain but as a duty to put her life and stomach in the line for her crew; yet even behind her face plate her eyes shone with joy upon receiving the exquisite taste on her tongue. The rest of the crew followed her way, the morganic eels with mustard came next and there were no words to describe how exquisite they had a salty, oily taste mixed with the spicy and sour flavor of the mustard sauce. Her crewmen have never tasted something so good.

The rest of the delegations were also enjoying the feast, the Asari in particular were eating a delicacy known as fried octopus; a large sea creature with long tentacles fried in hot olive oil and covered by a layer of flour and fried bread crumps.

"Now this is delicious" a Salarian commented pointing to a bowl of boiled eggs covered by salt and spices. "Never ate boiled eggs like this, Klixen eggs are too acid to eat and the pod crab eggs are far too small to enjoy" he explained as he took another boiled white egg into his mouth.

"I agree" another Salarian commented, this one enjoying a fried amphibian creature leg covered in bread crumps and flour; fried frog legs they called the dish.

A human guide laughed and commented something to another guide under his breath. "Octopus for the Asari, frogs for Salarians… it's a shame we cannot give fried chicken to the turians; we would make cannibals out of them".

The other guide smirked in response.

As for the other guests invited they seemed to be enjoying the party; with the three krogan representatives gulping plate after plate of meat like a pack of hungry varrens. The elcors and drells complimented the food and the human hospitality; while the volus and hanars crowded around the guides and human representatives the formers with questions regarding commerce and financial agreements and the latters with religious questions regarding the protheans and their extinction.

The batarians above all the others mostly kept to themselves watching everything and everyone around them with a mix of greed and disdain; as they devoured the food they grabbed from the table they made rude comments about the appearance and shape of the human females with their similarity to Asari. The human guards escorting them seemed eager at finding an excuse to kick them out of their capital then they found it.

"Your ideals are heretical human" one of the hanar preachers openly declared to one of the Alliance senators. "You are disrespectful of the legacy of the enkindlers by claiming that they have been exterminated by machines rather than ascending into a greater plain of existence" the hanar spoke.

"My people are the direct chosen of the enkindlers; our entire world is covered by their ruins and we have never discovered any record of your reapers" the hanar said.

"And have you found any record of their disappearance?" the human countered. "Or any record about the construction of the mass relays, considering how large undertaking would be to build a single one, much less an entire network"

The hanar remained quiet for a moment. "No we haven't but that doesn't change the precept that we hanars were once the favorite ward of the Prothean Empire, they kept watch over us with much more care and resources than any other race"

"Maybe they just liked your taste hanar" a Batarian joked approaching the group. "There are records found in Prothean ruins at Batarian Space about the protheans discussing the delicacy of Salarian raw livers; maybe they preferred you boiled or fried" the Batarians laughed.

"This one does not like your words Batarian" the hanar countered in a tone as hard as he could muster.

"Well this one does not like you, tentacle preacher" the Batarian countered smiling.

"This one does not think you are worthy of the wisdom of the enkindlers four eyed barbarian" the hanar mocked, extending his poisonous tentacles in a threatening stance.

"This one does not think your kind is worthy even as slaves" the Batarian countered putting his hand on his side arm; all the humans guards and guests tensed up. "What worth the protheans could have found in your species other than a tasty meal?" he laughed.

"This one doesn't believe a people of slavers and criminals is even capable of understanding the vision of the enkindlers"

"This one shall kill and eat you" the Batarian draw his gun and so did the rest of his entourage; most of the guests and human guides released a gasp of panic; as a single human female with golden eyes and her body shinning with the blue aura of biotics approached the group her eyes narrowed in anger.

"And this one have just lost her patience" the woman said, flexing her hand forward as a telekinetic shockwave hit the Batarians; just as a biotically controlled wave of water from the fountain covered them.

Then the suspended body of water was frozen solid, encasing the half a dozen Batarians in ice with only their heads outside the mass of ice, looking between the human biotic and the solid iceberg that held with a mix of fear and confusion.

_So those are the rumored plasmid elemental powers of the humans_, many thought.

"Get them out of our Nexus" the lilim ordered, as the biotic aura around her vanished.

"Yes major Shokida" someone shouted as the guards rushed to comply rounding up the Batarians after breaking them out of the ice with blasts of fire from their hands; the soldiers also possessing their own plasmid powers. While the young human biotic have turned her heels and moved into the crowd of gathered terran officers.

Thankfully the feast continued without any other issue other than a brief fright when two praetorian guards were forced to pin down one of the krogan envoys who tried to start a brawl with the turians and another krogan having a mild intoxication for eating dextro food.

After a brief toast called upon by one of the members of the parliament referred to as senators in celebration of the end of the war, the multiple delegations were called upon for separate meetings.

The quarian Admiral Duer'Kozuol vas Narthrel alongside Captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler have been called for a private meeting with Senator Jack Wynand representing a human nation known as Rapture; taking a deep breath Shaira crossed the metallic doors following their escort feeling that this meeting could very well decide the future of her people and their place in the galaxy.

-.

**A day later**

**Parliament building, Erebus Nexus, Jotunhen System**

**Meeting of the leadership**

"¿Can someone explain to me why we invited the batarians and krogans?" the german senator asked.

"We needed to show ourselves to the rest of the galaxy, including the krogans and those wretched batarians" another senator declared.

"Our people will not be happy, the press and social media will say that we are making deals with slavers and dictators" the senator from Poland added.

"The peace we have signed shall not last for very long; another war will come sooner or later" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock commented. "Especially since the 'gift' the Citadel Council has bestow upon us as an olive branch" she added.

"¿You are referring to the colonial rights of the planets in the Skyllian Verge, admiral?" the Rapturian Senator Jack Wynand asked, exchanging gazes with the admiral of the Second fleet, both understanding each other in perfect complicity.

"Yes" she answered as the admiral of the first fleet took the word.

"The council intends to drive us into war with the Batarian Hegemony" Admiral Yao explained. "They do not intent for the Batarians to win; the turians couldn't beat us after all; they just expect them to bleed us and for us to bleed them" he finished.

"Inviting the Batarians here also served another purpose" the minister of defense began. "They like the krogans and turians respect strength, I doubt most of them would seek a lasting war with us if they believe they are unable to win. Those who are arrogant and stupid enough to challenge us may serve us as tools to pit our enemies against each other" he explained holding his hand on his chin.

"In any case" another interrupted. "¿Are we even colonizing the planets on the Skyllian verge?" she asked.

"Elysium looks like a promising candidate for colonization so does a few planets within the verge" the minister of colonial affairs answered. "The point is ¿Are they worth it?"

"Perhaps we can give a few of colonies in the Skyllian verge to the Rachni Hive; attacking us is one thing, attacking both us and the rachni is another. The Batarians will be forced to back off, but that would create a lot of resentment within their government and people if they are feed with nationalistic propaganda" an advisor suggested.

"Ahh please" Field Marshal Yuri Rudek one of the highest ranking officers of Land Force Command exhaled. "Have you study our history regarding the twentieth and twenty first century with military dictatorships lead by delusional individuals who claimed they were building heaven on Earth only to fall into cesspits of corruption, poverty and misery under the leadership of bloody clowns like Idi Amin or Hugo Chavez"

"The Batarians are a decadent nation, a paper tiger of an empire" he continued. "Their homeworld is clouded not in mystery but in pure lies, they claimed to have a population of 15 billion with an economy rivaling that of the Asari" the man scoffed.

"If we go to war with them we will crush them, but it would make us look like ruthless conquerors to the rest of the galaxy" he explained. "But if we isolated them from resources and maintain a purely defensive approach; forcing them to throw lives and hardware against our defenses; they are sure to collapse sooner or later. Then we can give 'aid and support' and slowly bring them into our side"

Many people nodded in agreement to the Field Marshal analysis.

"Well we have an entire workforce of synth androids without AI high thought; we can gain a foothold in the Batarian Hegemony by convincing them to replace their slave caste with synthetics; the galaxy would be applauding us for finally helping the primitive Batarians to evolve out of their tribal ways" the Minister of synthetic affairs suggested. "But the Synthetic Assembly may not agree to it and the various corporations like Cyber Synergy and Porter-Minerva's Advanced Software will not like the idea of making deals with a slaver dictatorship nor risking the chance for one of them to build a monopoly within an alien nation" the minister explained.

"Very well enough about the Batarians; we have enough enemies" the Prime Minister Natasha Ferro cut in. "What about possible allies; Senator Wynand, how did the quarians react to our offer?" she asked looking at the Rapturian Senator.

"Hard to tell, I am accustomed to see another individual face to face before making deals and discussing about business" he smiled. "In any case we have offered them colonial rights to the planet Morgan 04, which has a rich dextro based ecology as well as several zero atmosphere planets and small moons with moderate resources. I have spoken with the CEOs of various corporations; many are interested in inducting quarians into their workforce."

"Ryan-Fontaine Industries, Mc Donald Star Engineering and Langford Terraforming amongst others are willing to bring quarian engineers for a phase of instruction into our civilian not restricted technologies before hiring them" he explained.

"So we need to introduce the quarians to our technology before they can actually be of help to us" the North American Senator Andrew Rios scoffed. "Why are we even wasting our resources and time with the quarians? What help can they provide us? Their entire population is smaller than 20 million, their economy is non-existent and their only trading card is a fleet of thousands ancient starships that they can barely maintain and do not hold a candle to the ships of the Citadel races much less ours".

"You are not wrong Senator Rios" Jack Wynand answered. "But the quarians are some of the best engineers of the galaxy; they have survived for three centuries in a flotilla of ancient ships that they have been able to maintain and refit with very few resources; their methods and perspectives when introduced to our technology may aid us in reducing our waste of resources and improve the efficiency of our navy and industry".

He made a pause. "Senator in most great battles of the First Contact War the Alliance fleet achieved victory even when outnumbered because our ships and their crews are of the best quality and are all state of the art; but every ship loss was a massive loss in resources while every sailor and soldier dead was a massive cost of manpower, experience and academic knowledge. Having the Migrant Fleet and the Rachni navy on our side will help to cut off our quality over quantity shortcomings"

"Also we are borrowing a page from the Asari, thinking on the long term" he continued. "With training and instruction teams of quarian engineers could push our navy and industries forward in a few decades. Also it would cement our place in the galaxy as a force for peace, equality and progress; we won't face our enemies alone" he finished.

Everyone nodded thinking on the words of Senator Jack Wynand; above a politician the man a cunning businessman, many say that it was because of that trait that he always got the job done. He was a young promising senator born and raised in the colony of Hera just like Admiral Elizabeth Comstock, word was that they had been childhood friends and he had earned his position as representative of the Rapturian Objectivistic Republic by his political expertise, charisma and his ties to the largest corporation on the Alliance: Ryan-Fontaine Industries.

While Rapture was still a small nation on Earth, her weight on the Alliance economy far exceeded that of her population and territory. Some of the largest industries and conglomerates had an origin in Rapture like Mc Donald Star Engineering and the Tenenbaum Foundation which produced bio medi-gel.

"What about the krogans? Are we considering the…" the Chinese senator was cut off by the voice of the Prime Minister.

"Out of the question" she declared. "The quarians and the rachni are one thing, the krogans are far too unpredictable and disorganized; they lack any central government or authority, developing a cure for the genophage also will not only turn the entire galaxy against us but it could turn some of the krogans to challenge us, be it tomorrow or five centuries from now" the chief of state gave her final word.

"As a to help them and gain some good will we can offer them colonial rights to a few minor colonies; to help them rebuild as for their lack of reproductive means we can provide them with in vitro means of conception for a price; which allow us to control their population growth" she explained her eyes looking at the ceiling as in deep thought.

"Yet in any case all of these plans are based on the certainty that our most immediate rivals the Turians, Asari and Salarians will not manage to crack our rift gate technology" the Praxian Senator, one of the most military minded politicians in the room interrupted.

"As the old saying goes Si vis pacem, para bellum; if you want peace prepare for war" he declared. "We need to improve our capabilities, expand our military industrial complex and start taking measures for every scenario, from our enemies obtaining Reaper technology to them developing rift gate FTL means".

"I agree" Admiral Comstock answered. "But there is also another concerning topic to discuss, there is a disease festering within our own borders; the GHI, the Grand Human Imperium and their leader Atlas" she declared as everyone expressions turned somber.

"Our people and our neighbors do not know that the First Contact War was the result of Atlas' schemes thankfully; we had them believe that it was the stupidity and corruption of a single man the Chinese representative Mateusz Joeng whose actions were the trigger to the conflict that lead to our unveiling to the rest of the galaxy" she made a pause looking at the ground. "A lie perhaps, but a necessary evil in our struggle to survive and secure our place in the galaxy maybe the first of many"

"We need to hunt down Atlas and his organization; they are no longer a nationalistic, xenophobic, moralistic group they are simply terrorists" she declared.

"I suggest we deploy an elite task force capable of infiltrating the GHI and take down their operations one by one, as well as preventing them from rebuild before cutting the head of the snake: Atlas"

"I am in agreement with you Admiral Comstock" the Prime Minister declared her face a mask refusing to show any emotion while the Rapturian Senator shared an intimate exchanged of gazes with the Admiral of the Second Fleet. "I imagine you have some suggestion for this task force"

Elizabeth Comstock the Butcher of Halliat smiled. "Yes I do" she said as a single file was uploaded into every data tool in the room, a single file with a name at the front:

_Cerberus Initiative_

-.

**-At the same time**

**Council Private Conference Chambers**

**Citadel, Widow Nebula**

On the other side of the galactic board there were also discussion regarding the future of humanity and the Alliance.

"Today on Citadel news, we mark a historic moment in galactic history as a new alien civilization has entered into the galactic stage" the asari anchorwoman made a pause. "The event also marks the first time in Council Era in which a space faring civilization is granted a unique position as an **observant independent power**; given the Terran Alliance refusal to sign the Treaty of Farixen or deactivating their fully self-aware AIs"

"The reaction through the galaxy has been the most diverse and extreme in recent era, since the arrival of the Alliance's navy on Citadel Space and the reports provided by the Council detailing the disastrous short war between the Turian Hierarchy and the Terran Systems Alliance. Since the subsequent cessation of hostilities the extranet has been bursting with diverse opinions and theories regarding the entry of these newcomers into the greater galactic community"

"The two greatest trending topics on the extranet forums are so far the distressing concern regarding the survival of the Rachni species with their role within this new power on the galaxy as well this unknown method of FTL used by terran vessels" she made a pause as the screen turned to show the recording of the USC fleet carrier arriving at the Widow Nebula through a raging storm of energy that looked like the unholy offspring of a wormhole and a gravitational storm.

"The scientific community remains baffled about the 'rift portal tear' as Alliance representatives have called it as well as the absence of a single atom of element zero in the leading human banner ship. For millennia the civilizations of the galaxy have constructed their modern societies around the eezo dependent FTL method and the mass relay network even the Council laws were drafted under the assumption that Mass Effect technology was the only logical progression of technology."

"Even though the peace treaty signed by the Council and the Alliance has left an open door for a peaceful coexistence with the humans, an atmosphere of uncertainty has spread through every corner of Citadel space. No matter their intentions, the Terran Alliance remains an anomaly, a new power in the galactic map, free of the constrains of the Mass relay network and undoubtedly powerful." A tense silence was maintained by the anchorwoman.

Tevos, Prateus and Eshael watched as every channel reported the same, STG extranet reviews said the same without the sugar coating:

The Turian Hierarchy was on the verge of a political breakdown, the humiliation of their defeats at the hands of the humans had been a heavy blow in the Hierarchy's prestige and national pride, many were asking for the head of the Primarch, a few were asking for a renewed offensive against the humans and finally there were those who had been calling for a change in the standard and predictably tactics and doctrines based on superior firepower and attrition base warfare and now they had found themselves being heard for the first time in decades.

The markets had shifted and almost collapsed overnight with the panic provoked by the revelation of the chaotic war the Turians had gotten themselves into.

And finally in both the Salarian Union and Asari Republics a silent panic attack was happening in every segment of society for the 'return of the rachni' as the trending topic titles described the revelation of the new rachni organized civilization living in association to the Terran Alliance as a client species. If they actually had the Rachni on their side, then the Alliance was a power with a nearly unlimited source of cannon fodder and cheap labor.

"So?" she asked her colleagues. "Any suggestions in how we can conduct our relationships with our new 'allies'?" Eshael and Prateus turned to her.

"Faaar too many variables" the Salarian Councilor simply answered. "Keeping peace until we can achieve a state of technological parity seems critical, but human accelerated rate of expansion and development… problematic" she made a pause.

"Projections and simulations show the Terran Alliance economy surpassing our three economies combined within six decades, not to speak of the Rachni Hive. AI open development makes their industry and intelligence services remarkably efficient; genetic manipulation makes it difficult to force on them any kind of virus or plague capable of deposing them of their ability to wage war" she made a pause not paying attention to the shock gazes of Tevos and Prateus, who could barely believe what she was saying; talking about biological warfare and maybe even genocide so casually.

The female Salarian released a short sight before continue speaking.

"Most critical of all, expansion and movement not constrained by the limits of normal FTL and mass relays; far too many variables" she looked back at Prateus, narrowing her eyes. "Turian's defeat on human colony both on the ground and in orbit, evidence of a well-equipped and experienced military; human defensive doctrine employs the use of shielding against orbital bombardment, impressive endurance strategy. Human offensive doctrine seems to focus in lighting counter attacks, bypassing enemy strong points, cutting supply lines and sowing chaos and confusion by disrupting communications and targeting headquarters all in an effort to weaken the enemy before attacking in force with superior firepower and numbers, also using technology and advance tactics to limit casualties."

"In short, we will be dealing with a lot of disadvantages if they decide to attack us in force" she finished.

Prateus released a long sight, before shifting on his seat.

"I've also seen the simulations; most of our tactics regarding space combat are designed around the limitations of normal FTL and the capabilities of our ships; we do not know the certain limits of human ship combat endurance or the full capabilities of that monstrous super dreadnought they have waiting just beyond the relay 314" P rateus added.

"What are you suggesting then Councilor?" Eshael asked Prateus in a tone that bordered on an ironic voice.

"Considering we are in this disaster because of your kind and your damn Turian arrogance and pride" she added.

**"My kind?"** he nearly shouted. "If it weren't for my kind, it could have taken decades or even centuries before we've discovered the humans; and they have known about us for decades because of those damned suit rats; at least know we know about their existence now and we have a chance to stop them from becoming too powerful and threaten our supremacy."

Tevos bow rose upon hearing his words, he had a point and we was speaking with honesty; for the wellbeing of their respective peoples the Council needed to maintain its supremacy on the galaxy.

"Then we do what we must" she said in a cold tone surprising both Eshael and Prateus. "Facing the Alliance now would be an economic, politic and even military disaster, and facing them in the future without a guaranty regarding technological parity will be worse; we must think on the immediate long term."

The gears on her mind began to turn and soon she was drawing a long plan to counter the Terran Alliance by whatever means necessary.

"The humans have only been space faring for little more than a century, their culture is still young, they are full of contradictions and internal conflicts" she made a pause adopting a dead serious look.

"But they are unique; they are an anomaly with a powerful fleet and armies to defend them. They are expanding and growing too fast, but only among 6% of their population works on the military according to their codex, they are a sleeping monster, and we must do whatever it takes to keep that giant from awaking" she explained as both Prateus and Eshael nodded in understanding.

_This galaxy belongs to us, I am not going to let anyone or anything to take it away from my people; not the Humans, not the Protheans return, not those imaginary Reapers_

-.

**CODEX:**

**-The Praxian Directorate: **The colony of Praxis in the Scorpio-Epsilon System achieved a state on semi-independence in the year 2124; while being a mostly autonomous nation with a status similar to the countries on Earth they are still part of the Terran Alliance Parliament, economy and military. Being the eezo richest planet within Human Space makes it one of the mayor economic players in the Alliance economy; like Thessia (the Asari homeworld) much of the praxian existent ecosystem adapted to the eezo in the soil and water with fauna and even flora developing biotic powers.

Yet the environment of Praxis is closer to that of Tuchanka's than that of Thessia or Earth; with cyclonic electric storms, hurricane like winds and a soil poor in bacterial life; as well as a gravitational force almost four times that of Earth, similar in strength to that of Palaven. Terraforming operations working for decades have made the planet much more amenable to humans and most organic life, but the planet's first colonists were forced to subject themselves to bio formation: genetic modification improving the strength of their lungs against eezo and other harmful particles in the air; cells more resilient to radiation as well as muscle and bone density adapted to the 3,5 G of the planet. Because of those traits Praxians are seen as some sort of super humans by much of humanity while a sense of superiority has filled much of the Praxian youth.

Since becoming an independent nation colony the Praxian government has been organized through a stratocracy; an assembly of government representatives, scientists, military officers and corporate executives that served in the Praxian General Assemby, the legislative body of the Praxian Directorate while the executive and judicial branches are made up by the Praxian High Council and the Praxian Supreme Court. The position in the stratocracy is given through merit, with its members are required to have long standing successful track record in every area of the Praxian society. Enjoying a state of significant importance within the Alliance economy and government, the Directorate has a powerful voice in the Parliament, alongside its own marine corps, Special Forces Division and even a small flotilla with ships displaying the praxian flag alongside the Alliance's insignia.

The Praxian flag is a white and yellow snake biting its own tail in a purple field; the Uroboros symbol represents the Adam slugs discovered by Doctor Brigid Tenembaum centuries before in Rapture, -whose properties were harvested to developed the first gene-mods and plasmids- symbolizing the adaptation and evolution the Praxians were forced to endure in order to claim their world. In a way the Praxian Directorate represents a military inclined ideal of the objectivistic dream of Rapture; with plasmids powers being much more liberally given and bought, for example: Construction workers can obtain the Telekinesis plasmid or electrical engineers can buy or receive the Electroshock plasmid.

Lilims make a percentage of the population much higher than that of other human colonies as the initial genetic modification bordering on eugenic tampering produced a lot of genetic anomalies within the natural born children. The lilims have mostly integrated well into the praxian society, in other planets mostly on the frontier of human space there is still a lot of distrust and racial tendencies towards lilims as their psi-powers are feared through the inhabitants of the Alliance and beyond. Within Praxis however lilims both male and females live in almost perfect harmony with the rest of Praxis' citizens; keeping several support groups known as lilim cabals where they can work to control their abilities and use them for the benefit of Praxis and all of mankind.

Some lilims are born sterile given the abnormalities in their genetic code, but others have been able to start families and sire children born with some of their abilities, but most second generation lilims as they are referred to are born with a lower psi-output than that of their parents and they possess none of the regenerative abilities of pure lilims as they cannot be 'fuse' completely with an Adam slug.

-.

**-Lilims and The Order of Interpreters: **Pure lilims are the ultimate combination of two highly evolved organisms: a human child sired by splicer parents (individuals whose 'addiction' to gene-mod therapy has produce serious damage to their bodies and genetic structure) and an Adam Slug (a slug native to Earth oceans with an impressive level of adaptation and regenerative abilities); the slugs are implanted into the infant's digestive organism, where they laid upon and can achieve a state of symbiosis if the genetic matching is suitable and if the infant's body adapts to the slug rather than experiencing a rejection where the host's immune system attacks the symbiote.

With the Adam slug becoming a part of the host's body lilims gained a remarkable ability to regenerate most wounds; an accelerated healing factor is not completely positive, lilims are far from being immortal and the healing is not selective: in one occasion for example a lilim child fell from a balcony breaking several bones and it was necessary to break her legs several times as the accelerated healing had fuse the leg bones together in deformed angles.

The symbiosis with the adam slug also gives way to a natural predilection for plasmid powers; with the body constantly producing Eve (a substance similar to eezo in saline proteins) the natural fuel of plasmids, lilims are capable of unleashing plasmid techniques with a power output and a level of control unlike that of any known plasmid user. While for normal plasmid users the plasmid powers are 'just another tool' not unlike that of a gun or a blow torch; for lilims plasmids can become an extension of their bodies and wills.

Yet it is their psi-connection the most notorious and unique quality of any lilim; a sort of psychic perception and connection that gives lilims the ability not to read minds as rumors and wives tales tell it but to perceive emotions and feelings in other beings like an enhanced empathy as well as projecting their own will on their minds. Lilims can communicate with each other through what many theorize is a sort of organic quantum entanglement communication similar to that of the rachni queens; while their perception and transmission of both knowledge, though, emotion and even orders are similar to sensory ability believe to have been present in the long extinct protheans: as knowledge, skill and though can be turned into a biological marker capable of being read by enhanced senses.

The most well-known lilim organization in Alliance Space is the Order of Interpreters; cabals of lilims working as just like the name implied, translator for the rachni queens and hives with the rest of the Alliance, they also serve as advisors for rachni brood mothers and Empress Maia herself.

The Order has a military arm as well, known as the Valkyries: a Corp of militant lilims trained in enhanced plasmid combat that may represent some of the most dangerous and skilled individuals on the galaxy.

-.

**-The Synthetic Assembly: **Ominously referred to as the 'singularity' at times, the Synthetic Assembly is a large conclave of fully sentient AIs whose chairmanship falls into the oldest and most advanced synthetic intelligences sired by humanity. Their purpose is to act as the maximum authority regarding synthetic and transhuman rights for the Alliance people as well as serving a mediator and advisor for the government in all AI related affairs.

They often have the last word in the assignment, retirement or commission of AIs within military and civilian positions.

-.

**-Humanity and the Terran Systems Alliance – Preliminary report for the Citadel Council, based on the historical data received and turian war prisoners' interviews:** Human civilization first evolved on their homeworld of Earth, a medium size garden world orbiting a standard single star. The conditions at the diverse yet stable environment of Earth so similar to the Asari homeworld of Thessia (other than the lack of eezo deposits on Earth) may serve to explain the striking similarities between the two races (not only in body appearance but also in common amino acids in both species organisms), perhaps even the genetic matching between the two species.

Unlike many other races, humans have an incredible wide range of racial, genetic and cultural diversities. While in other worlds a single evolutionary chain of the main species tends to compete or grow its way up to the position of apex predator of their race, eradicating the others, just like in Earth the Homo sapien species led the Homo Neanderthals to near extinction. In the humans case the presence of diverse environments on their homeworld and a constant evolutionary history based in competition but not always supremacy allowed for the development of a single species containing an entire kaleidoscope of cultures and ethnic groups.

The diverse societies and different nations across human history makes the history of the species one of never ending war and strife; but the constant struggle and exchange between one group and another that also led to an impressive rate of technological leaps and social changes across a relatively short history (Asari first develop written language 30000 years ago and developed an industrial revolution nearly 20000 years later; while human's widespread use of written language is only 6000 years old and industrial development is barely 400 years of age up to the development of FTL barely more than a century ago. In retrospect, had the humans achieve written language at the same time as the Asari conditions suggest they now could have been space faring for more than 20000 years).

It was not a single empire or a powerful nation that came to define humanity's ascension into the stars but a small cabal of scientists, artists and industrialists lead by a man known as Nikola Tesla that built a secret complex and haven in an isolated region of the Earth's South Pole (the Helios Complex) where their new technologies and knowledge were to be preserve in the case on an uncertain future, believing that their still divided and primitive societies were not ready for them yet. History would later prove them right with the outbreak of World War II.

When the humans first divided the atom, and discovered that their own self-annihilation could be almost certain, a large community of them exiled themselves to the Helios Complex of the Atlantis Project in the Antarctica, led by an industrialist and scientist known as Andrew Ryan the complex grew into a large secret city and promising society where some of the best minds of their species could work hidden from the most conflicted and totalitarian nations of their planet. Cut off from any restrain to their ideas and work be it religious, political or even moral.

The city known as Rapture, later consolidated as the Rapturian Objectivistic Republic became ground zero for a never ending wave of technological developments that were advanced even in comparison to some technologies use by Citadel species.

Even technologies and developments considered illegal by the Council have become widespread: Nowadays fully self-aware AIs help to maintain cities, stations and ships through the Alliance, with even a charter of rights and duties provided to almost every synthetic life form on their space.

Genetic and cybernetic augmentations can be seen on almost every level of human society, specifically in the military where most troops, soldiers and sailors receive gene therapy treatments to improve their strength or stamina and some even receive advance cybernetic implants to improve their memory and brain processing speed. While many races in Citadel space would not hesitate to call those practices acts of barbarians and an irresponsible tampering of the very essence of the natural and sacred form of a species; humans make use of a 'tier citizen structure' where every individual no matter their status in human society must prove themselves 'capable and worthy' of receiving those augmentations, also apparently all augmentations are voluntarily.

Humanity's search of perfection and self-improvement has given away to a small sub species of humanity: the Kori Lilith or Lilims, females and males with abilities unique among the races of the galaxy, and perhaps the very first indication of a new step on human evolution.

The discovery of an ancient complex of Prothean ruins in the nearby world designated as Mars became the spark that allowed both the unification of the Human race and the ascension of the race into a space faring civilization. Unlike the rest of the advance species in the known galaxy, the humans developed their space faring dominion not only through the mass effect technology and the relay network but also through the use of an alternate mean of FTL known as the Rift portal trans-dimensional tear.

An ever growing network of ring like structures (rift gates) are constructed and repositioned across their space serving as the gateways through the traffic and communications travel back and forth through human claimed space. It is this method of FTL and connections that represents the greatest concern for Citadel analysts, as humanity has claimed its dominion over hundreds of planets and systems, giving them a much larger area to harvest resources, spread their infrastructure and relocate their population.

While for the rest of the galaxy, the space between the mass relays is too far and too vast to explore and exploit without cost, and even normal FTL system to nearby system consumes time and resources that most races are not capable of affording on the long term. The Rift gates are apparently cheap to build and maintain, and it seems they are far more versatile and efficient than the mass effect relays.

In the human year 2109 a single human ship the SSV Michigan, made contact with a quarian crew and were engaged in combat against a group of Batarian pirates and slavers, marking humanity's first contact with another sentient space faring race.

In a noteworthy turn of fate, the human government and people perhaps inspired by the secrecy of the city of Rapture during the so called Cold War, agreed to maintain their growing dominion on a position of isolation and secrecy preferring not to reveal the human civilization to the greater galaxy unless it was on the time of their choice and on their terms. By mere chance or fate, Humanity found an ally on the oldest enemy of the civilized galaxy, the rachni when a human ship recovered an intact rachni queen egg on a derelict ship.

After the discovery of a massive ancient alien construct orbiting a long dead world, with a massive scale of 120 kilometers of diameter, even surpassing the Citadel in size that they later dubbed the Erebus Nexus, the governments of Earth and her colonies completed the transition into a coalition government and a new super nation, the Terran Systems Alliance.

While the Terran Alliance is considerable young compared to the Citadel Council their scale, technology, economy and military makes them a force to be recon. We are facing an emerging power; through the first contact war all that turians have achieved is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill it with a terrible resolve.

-.

**As always I do not own Mass Effect or Bioshock; Mass Effect is property of EA games and Bioware; while Bioshock is property of Ken Levine and Irrational Games.**


	15. Ch 14: History in the making

**Chapter 14: History in the making**

_Fecisti patriam diversis de gentibus unam _

"From differing peoples you have made one native land"

-.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Well it has been while; sorry for the long wait but even through the quarantine I have been in overdrive with my master degree and other projects; Covid-19 and its accompanying pandemonium that has enveloped the world seem endless, let's hope normality or what passes for normal times can return to our lives sooner than later.

I have been reading and correcting several of my chapters, fixing wrong phrases, prepositions or misspelled words and use of gender in the dialogues; also I made some changes in small details, like incorrect use of rank and military code.

I give my sincerest appreciation and thanks to all my followers for their support, I am doing my best to build a story well rounded and enjoyable. I know many of you have complained about the Terran Alliance being far too OP, as if nothing can threatens it, removing any type of uncertainty regarding the fate of the 'good guys'. Well this is fanfiction, we write here to build a new path within the fictional worlds we have grown to love; but as writers we must avoid committing literary sins like building a character or faction to be a Mary sue or abusing of plot armor and resorting to the deux ex machina resource.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

-.

**2155.08.30**

**SSV Dawn of Infinity**

**Zodiac Alpha System, on the other side of Shanxi's relay 314**

It was equal parts unnerving and life changing experience for the three Quarians representatives sent to speak with the human military leaders to walk through the corridors of the largest ship in the known galaxy. Their guide the already famous or infamous –depending who you speak with- Admiral Comstock emanated an aura of pride and unflinching focus, her stone face expression refusing to give anything away.

"This ship is beyond impressive" Quarian admiral Xuro'Annoin vas Jorrukan of the Heavy Fleet and the leader of the selected representatives of the Migrant fleet declared while looking around across the hangar, bulkheads and exposed subsystems of the Uber Dreadnought. While the Quarian's mask face plate hid any emotional expression on his face, his eyes seemed to shine with even more intensity than usual from what Admiral Comstock could observe.

"Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that a vessel so massive could be built. This ship certainly makes the Destiny Ascension and even our live ships look small in comparison" he added, disbelieve clear in his modulated voice.

"Thank you Admiral Annoin" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock who had received the Quarian ambassadors answered, as she guided them through the halls passing through laboratories, operation stations and hangar bays; the ship was so big that it carried frigates within its hangar bays.

"Yes, the Dawn of Infinity is triumph of engineering, an enduring manifestation of Terran power and a source of praises and critics in equal measure" her smile vanished at the last statement as she lowered her gaze to the ground.

The Quarians stood confused and exchanged gazes. "Pardon me admiral, critics have you say?" Captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler hesitantly asked.

The human admiral turned towards them and nodded.

"The Dawn of Infinity is a symbol of Terran technological might, yes; but for many within Alliance High Command and the General Assembly it is also a token of arrogance and a massive waste of resources" she made a pause.

"As powerful as she is, she is still only one ship, with the resources expended in building the single vessel that is the Dawn of Infinity we could have constructed instead at least a dozen fleet carriers or perhaps an entire fleet of twenty dreadnoughts" the Quarians exchanged gazes again, and gulped at her words, twenty Terran dreadnoughts would have been enough to put the entire Citadel on its knees.

"She is also a very tempting target for any of our enemies, no matter how powerful she is, an enemy with enough determination and cunning could certainly find a weakness and through a carefully calculated operation conducted at the right moment and at the right place they could cripple or even destroy her. Shattering the image and aura of invincibility of the Terran Navy"

"No matter how many resources her destruction could cost to the enemy, it would be a much lower price than that of how much the blow could cost the Alliance. Both in resources, people and morale" she finished.

"The analysts on High Com often refer to this ship as an example of the Bismarck paradox" she added smiling.

"Pardon me, Bismarck paradox?" Shaira asked.

"The German battleship Bismarck was a famous sea war ship from over two centuries ago during a conflict on our homeworld known as World War Two; she was one of the greatest war ships of her time, pride of the kriegsmarine, yet merely eight months after her deployment she was attacked by 16 outdated biplane torpedo bombers, one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. The Bismarck was surrounded by enemy vessels afterwards and under the captain's orders she was scuttled to prevent capture" the admiral explained.

"A similar fate fell over another terrific battleship in the same war, the Japanese battleship Yamato; which was a true powerhouse, equipped with some of the largest cannons of its time, meant to spread fear and death to all enemies of the Japanese Emperor. But she was a very slow and very tempting target so she was kept out of danger for most of her career. In the end on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers; becoming the funeral pyre of the once proud Japanese Imperial Navy"

"The lessons from that war and from latter smaller conflicts cemented the bases for the Terran Alliance naval doctrine" she made a pause. "Most known space faring species on this galaxy including you and the Citadel races; cement your doctrines around the use of a heavy gun navy: dreadnoughts fighting over distances of thousands of miles and smaller warships supporting them or closing in to engage the enemy. The Alliance uses a similar set of offensive tactics but we also rely on our carriers, using squadrons of bombers star-fighters or other small crafts to scout, flank the enemy or fight over distances of light years instead of miles" she explained.

The Quarians exchanged gazes once more, perhaps curious and skeptical at the same time about the extended use of fighters and small craft in such a way; the Terran naval doctrine was certainly a breach within the standard galactic space combat doctrine that has reigned supreme for hundreds of years within half a dozen space faring species' navies.

_So was their rift transposition opening FTL method, unlike that of the normal FTL jump reliant on the mass effect and element zero…_

"Still though…" Shaira hesitantly spoke. "This ship is amazing and I imagine incredible powerful; but I also assume she is undoubtedly slow; after all she doesn't have a mass effect core, which also explains her massive scale: the limitations of an element zero core and the extension of a sustained mass effect field across the ship have always been a constant in every race's ship design"

"The Destiny Ascension the flagship of the Citadel Defense Fleet and the entire Asari Navy has perhaps the largest mass effect core in the known galaxy, the two largest in fact as Asari capital ships have two drive cores instead of one. Even the three live ships of our migrant fleet have smaller drive cores, the artificial gravity in them is created through the rotation of the containment sphere, the 'ship's head' rather than the use of mass effect fields" she made a pause, looking at her feet.

"Speaking of which…" she began. "How is that this ship stand capable of creating artificial gravity if there is no element zero drive core creating the mass effect fields? Our scans haven't detect a single atom of eezo in the entirety of this vessel" she asked, the other two quarians nodded, wondering about the same.

Admiral Comstock looked back and smiled, inviting the Quarians to the Dawn of Infinity have been a damned good idea. If there was something these aliens respected it was starship technology; the flagship of the Terran Navy was not only the ultimate carrier-dreadnought, it also served as a mobile command center, and construction yard as it was big enough to contain resource processing foundries capable of harvesting minerals from asteroids or other sources, as well as heavy industrial scale fabricators capable of constructing from fighters to light cruisers.

Yet above all the ship meant to serve as an 'ark' in case of a galactic wide Armageddon or genocidal war against mankind. If the time would come when no place in the galaxy would be safe for the human race, with even Earth under the threat of destruction, and mankind facing extinction, then the Dawn of Infinity could take the best and brightest of the Alliance and flee to safety in search of a new beginning.

She had large hydroponic bays to feed her crew, cryogenics, laboratories and storage bays capable of holding fertilized human embryos, and the largest rift syphon in existence; according to the simulations the Dawn of Infinity's rift jump would even be capable of crossing the wide distance between galaxies, she could probably reach the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy in one or two centuries.

"The ship's deck floors are equipped with Lutece particle emitter arrays" she answered. "I am no engineer but I can tell you the history behind it: About two centuries ago two scientists Robert Lutece and his twin sister Rosalind not only developed the first rift portal prototype but also discovered a way to manipulate the graviton particles that control gravitational acceleration" she explained smiling wide.

"At least that's what I wrote in my second grade history test during high school" she joked.

"In simple terms, the Lutece particle can be coded to generate a gravitational field in a similar way to a mass effect field" she added.

"Some analysts theorize that the Luteces may have discovered particles of eezo from an unknown source centuries ago and found a way to replicate the effect. The Lutece particle is not the same as a generated mass effect field nevertheless; through the use of Lutece anti graviton arrays many Alliance worlds maintain their orbital elevators, which are now longer constructed as it was cheaper than constant travels back and forth through the use of starships, but more expensive than in place rift portals once the technology was updated. Also the Lutece field is not the same as a ship wide mass effect field" she made a pause.

"There is no mass effect field covering the Dawn of Infinity or our carriers, even the largest dreadnought of the Citadel races is moderately fast compared to the fleet carriers of the Alliance navy that don't contain eezo drive cores, and as for the Dawn of Infinity I would say she is more of a giant and heavily armed space station with anti-proton thrusters than a regular starship" she finished.

Elizabeth turned back, the Quarians were turning from her to each other constantly, they were quiet but her manners and body language suggested that they were privately speaking through private channels in their helmets communicators. She wasn't sure that she should be speaking so openly to these literally faceless aliens, but what she was telling them was nothing more than what any Terran child could find on the waypoint net searcher, also it was a good strategy to have their interest picked and their nerves kept at ease.

-.

In one of the smallest conference room at the ship, the meeting between the military representatives of the Terran Alliance and the Quarian Migrant Fleet sat in opposites sides of a small wooden table, the smooth texture of the polished wood enraptured the three quarians who were fascinated by the quality of the material and its feeling to the tact on their gloved three digit hands.

This was more than anything a military meeting to discuss the final detail in mutual defensive pact between the nomadic race and the emerging super power. Colonization rights to the planet Morgan 04 which had a dextro based ecology and other star systems with several small moons with moderate resources; have already been discussed and accepted by both parties in the meetings between the Quarian Ambassador and the Alliance Prime Minister. The politicians work was done, now it was time for the soldiers.

On one side of the table sitting on the center leading the Terran group was Admiral Comstock, who had been given command of the flagship to conduct the negotiations; on each side of her were Admiral James Su Kwon and General George Williams. While on the Quarian side directly facing Elizabeth was Admiral Xuro'Annoin vas Jorrukan with Captain Shaira'Nuzzra vas Juler and Commander Hyul'Lirut vas Normun of the Migrant fleet marines on his sides.

By defeating the Turian fleet and armies in the First Contact War the Alliance has gained the begrudging respect of the Turians and picked the interest and fear of every other race; while the Quarians were hesitant to make deals with the humans because of various reasons like the Terran overextended use of synthetics, the presence of the Rachni as client species of the Alliance and the inherent dangers that came with supporting a rival of the Citadel Council.

But the benefits far exceeded the risks, the chance to finally have a world to call home again and maybe even reclaim Rannoch one day with the aid of the Alliance and its technology.

"Well let's begin with the internships and joint training scenarios for your soldiers, for example we are willing to ease the process for Quarians to join service in Terran military or civilian ships through their… pilgrimages, was it?" Admiral Su Kwon stated the Quarians nodded in response.

"Yes" Admiral Annoin declared. "We appreciate the opportunities presented for our younglings, there are never many warm welcomes or open opportunities for our people in Citadel Space and the Terminus Systems are no better".

"The Migrant Fleet marines are also interested in joint training simulations" the Quarian marine commander added. "If half the stories I heard from the siege of Shanxi and the invasion of Parvis Marna, are true then you have some of the best soldiers of the galaxy at your disposal".

"That's high praise coming from you commander" General Williams declared. "Yes, our special forces, marine corps and praetorian units may be some of the best infantry in the galaxy. They did a damned fine job at Shanxi even the militia support units fought with valor and discipline truly deserving of many honors" he finished.

"I imagine the defense of Shanxi has made a great name for you General Williams" the Quarian Commander suggested.

"Yes it has" the General smiled and stated, looking at the shinning medal The Star of Terra resting proudly on his uniform; yet his expression turned somber. "Yet so many of my men paid the ultimate price defending Shanxi nevertheless; the battle was truly a meat grinder, those Turians are tough SOBs" he declared with disgust but also some level of respect.

"SOBs?" the quarian marine asked. "Pardon its seems that my translator has a glitch"

"Hahaha" the general laughed. "It states for son of a bitch, I believe you have an equivalent word for that term… boshtet, or so…"

The quarian marine erupted in laughter and the general joined in.

Elizabeth smiled; this was a good start to the negotiations.

-.

**The Next day**

**Meeting of Alliance High-Com**

"So we are bringing mercenaries, pirates and worse to fight alongside our soldiers?" one Field Marshal angrily stated.

"The corsair program is a shrewd move to deploy cover assets behind enemy lines and study our enemies' capabilities without sacrificing our main forces or risk starting a war" Fleet Admiral Sebastian Yao explained.

"We have Private Military Companies that can provide services in Council Space through mercenary units. It will not only allow us to extend our influence across the Citadel's underworld but it could give us a foothold on the Citadel's fringe territories close to the Terminus System and independent powers" an analyst from the ASB added.

"But the Krogans?" Field Marshal Russo asked. "This group of mercenaries… this Blood Pack filled with krogans and vorcha seems more akin to a salvage gang or death squad than a mercenary unit" he added.

"They are violent and of infamous reputation; with no regard for collateral damage or their own casualties" an ASB officer stated. "In other words they are perfect cannon fodders and fitting proxy units"

"More than anything, the changes and updates in naval and combat doctrines through the lessons learned in the First Contact War have resulted in the birth of new special operation squadrons and ship task forces" Admiral Elizabeth Comstock took the word and every eye at the meeting felt towards her.

"For decades our fleet doctrine in space has been based on that of the old United States' navy; flotillas centered on escort carriers and sector wide fleets centered on fleet carriers; a doctrine fixated on force projection, with minor squadrons formed by frigates, destroyers and heavy cruisers" she explained.

"Our triumphs in the short war with the Citadel have proven many of our combat tactics successful, yet brute force alone is not a guaranty of victory even when we have technological superiority".

"We have to study new ways of fighting our enemies; so far technology has been our greatest advantage: our rift gates, our carriers and our stealth ships gave us the means to outflank and overpower the Turian fleet and army but our enemies will attempt to adapt; change their tactics and improve their hardware, perhaps even develop countermeasures to our doctrines".

"We must adapt too" she stated. "Borrowing a page from the Salarian STG, fleet command is working on a new fleet formation designated as Shadow Wolf Pack; a unit composed of stealth frigates and destroyers carrying an elite starfighter squadron and a complement of Special Forces operatives".

"Through cloaked movements the Shadow Wolf Packs can ambush enemy supply lines, disrupt vital operations and deploy elite units in enemy territory".

"This will be a strategy similar to that of the German kriegsmarine in World War II; when groups of U-boat submarines were capable of holding the line against the much larger British Royal Navy".

"In short terms the corsairs with the blood pack shall be our sledge hammer unleashing raw fury and chaos while the shadow wolf packs will be our scalpel; executing surgical precision missions".

Everyone in the room exchanged looks; there was no doubt in everyone minds that humanity had become an important force in the galactic playground and a very tempting target for many of the consolidated alien powers. The Alliance needed to improve its tactics and find new allies if Earth and her colonies were to survive and flourish despite an uncertain future in the horizon.

The ASB officer took the next word.

"And I have the perfect mission for both the Corsairs and the Shadow Wolf Pack" he spoke, as the holographic map switched towards the area of the galaxy where the Traverse and the Terminus Systems met. "This rogue faction known as the Black Fleet has increased their raids on Citadel outpost and fringe colonies, I believe we must find out what's behind their attacks, how they developed their version of the Tiamat cannon and what their agenda is".

Field Marshal Russo caressed his chin in thought. "This is deeply troubling, the enemy of our enemy does not necessarily becomes our friend, and this rogue faction might be much more unpredictable than the rest of our current rivals" he affirmed.

"Speaking of dangerous players?" one officer began looking at Admiral Comstock. "Elizabeth how goes your side project, this task force of yours?" he asked.

"They are doing well" she answered. "Currently they are on Praxis training new operatives as well as conducting counter intelligence against Atlas and the GHI. Soon they will be ready" she stated.

"The Cerberus shall be the tip of our hidden spear" she declared.

-.

**2155.09.20**

**Erebus Nexus**

**Middle Ring - Ocean ring, Observation platform 27**

The gigantic station that was the Erebus Nexus was a colossal structure formed by three large rings:

The Outer Ring was known as the Green ring as it was the fertile enclosed space where crops were harvested that feed the population and also provided ample parks with artificial forests, lakes and gardens with government buildings in critical places and the edges of the ring with the best views. It was also the main structure that held the Cardinal Pylons containing the cities and the Gate Pylons connected to the structure holding the web of rift gates. The outer ring also served as the largest hadron collider in existence, synthetizing the antimatter needed to power the Station singularity reactor.

The Inner Ring called the Industrial Ring near the center, held the major factories and ship-building facilities of the station. Some of the largest and most advanced vessels of the Alliance were designed and constructed in the Erebus Nexus. The Inner ring also held the nucleus, a large asteroid containing the station's neutron-antimatter reactor.

And the Middle Ring had been named the Ocean Ring, as the ice water collected from the asteroids and the synthetized water was contained within the structure, forming an artificial ocean inside where marine fauna and flora from Earth and other planets was kept. The Ocean served many purposes besides supplying the station with algae proteins and sea food; it also held the station's main water supply, it functioned as a reserve of organic matter for pharmaceutical production and was a great tourist destination.

The view from the observation platforms was unlike anything else in the galaxy, like a stellar reincarnation of the original idea of the Rapture Project. An underwater environment contained in a supermassive metal ring with a diameter of almost 80 kilometers.

And this has been an interesting month for the Ocean Ring as it was open to alien visitors for the first time in its history.

-.

There was a great system of artificial sunlight in the contained ocean not only to light the view, but also to feed the plants in the water with UV lighting, without all of those lights it would have been impossible to see anything through the observation platforms.

To the gleaming eyes of hundreds of visitors the shape of a majestic great blue whale swam through the view of the tall glass window; a spectacle that surpassed the view of any aquarium in existence.

A dozen quarian children gasped upon laying eyes at the giant creature, their tiny six digit hands stuck to the glass window as in an attempt to reach and touch the majestic beast in sight.

"keelah… look at that" one of them pointed to a school of fish moving in perfect synchrony like a silver swarm.

"Incredible" a quarian girl gasped through her modulated voice nearly jumping in joy.

Every quarian in the group had their eyes fixed on the view including the adult chaperones, both parents and marine escorts. Only their human guides and protection detail stood in attention, while the guide a young red head woman on her late twenties seemed amused by the reactions of the aliens.

"The blue whale is the largest known animal in Earth, the human homeworld, in ancient times they were almost driven to extinction because of indiscriminate hunting. Their oil, meat, bones and other products were highly prized and vital to several industries" the guide explained.

"Through international ecological protection laws their populations recovered; and the oceans of Earth have decreased in contamination each decade through the use of recycling technologies. While many species once declared extinct have been returned to the planet's ecosystem, through cloning programs" she finished.

The Quarians both children and adults were hanging by every word coming out of the guide's mouth, and they looked remarkable undisturbed standing there in an 'alien environment' despite the odd looks send by every human visitor.

Fortunately it was not hostility merely curiosity in most cases, the same could be said about the other alien visitors; Asari, Salarians, Hanars and Volus. With the obvious exception of the Turians, who were viewed with suspicion by almost every human in the place; luckily there were only four or five Turians in the entire observation platform, and not one of them seemed eager to start a fight or do something hostile.

Yet they also seemed out of place and uncomfortable unlike the Quarians, perhaps they felt unsure at being surrounded by beings who have just go to war with a few months ago or maybe it was just their nature; Turians didn't do well in the water, their carapaces were like life preservers made of lead, and their limbs were not evolved to swim. Instinct made them nervous near the water.

The Asari were viewed with great curiosity by human males and females alike, at least the curiosity and fascination was mutual; the Asari were marveled by the resemblance between both races in both appearance and genetic matching. More than the body and facial features the most unnerving trait of the Asari for the humans were the eyes, it was not hard to see an Asari in the eyes and forget that you had an alien in front of you; the iris, the pupil, the eyeballs and even the soul behind them felt identical. The same applied to the Asari in their interactions with humans apparently.

As for the other aliens they were ignored for the most part, with the exception of the Hanar who looked as if they were supposed to be in the other side of the glass.

"Are there creatures like these living in the Oceans of Rannoch?" one of the Quarian children asked not the guide but one of his chaperons, most likely his father.

The adult Quarian hesitated for a second. "Rannoch was arid in comparison to the Human homeworld of Earth, the Oceans were smaller and less deep; I believe similar sea creatures live there but I don't think they were so big".

The boy nodded please by the answer. "I hope to see them someday" the child said, his voice beaming with excitement.

"Rannoch is lost, idiot" another of the kids exclaimed. "And even if we reclaim it someday, there might be nothing left in the oceans or continents; the Geth want to kill everything organic they must have destroyed every standing forest in Rannoch and scoured it's seas of life".

Immediately every one of the Quarians looked at the ground in sadness thinking of their loss homeworld and their loss heritage with the Geth Rebellion; the guide observed the situation and attempted to change the tune.

"Please follow me" she ordered. "We will go next to the Museum of Natural History on the Coeus Pylon, where you can learn about Earth's history and humanity's journey into the stars, afterwards we will be taking a lunch break in the hotel" as expected the mood of the alien group improved with that.

As the children group and their escort departed an Asari Matriarch stared at her hands caressing her delicate yet well carved fingers; she was amazed by the operation pulled by the humans to bring the nomadic Quarians into their camp. This whole revealing operation to the other species of the galaxy was clearly a massive PR stunt of the Terran Alliance to decrease the fear infused into the hearts and minds of the races of the Citadel by the First Contact War as well as bringing the independent powers to their side.

For the first time in what seemed decades Matriarch Benezia T'Soni felt the distinct spirit of curiosity and fascination mixed together in her gut, it was reinvigorating to feel like this again but also scary in a way. Many believed that after millennia of experience there was nothing that could scare an Asari Matriarch, but Benezia felt fear every day because of…

"Mother" her seventy year old daughter the little Liara called at her side grabbing her right hand between her small fingers. Benezia turned, lowered her gaze and smiled and her expression kept her concerns hidden, Liara was remarkable curious and brilliant for her age; just like her mother and her 'father'.

Haaa, Aethya must be laughing right now; that image made her felt both happy and sad, Benezia's bond mate and Liara's progenitor have always said that the Asari were stuck in the past; that they needed to change, to improve, to get their daughters to study and train earlier instead of going to shake their blue asses in stripper clubs or fight in merc bands. But the Armali Council the Asari e-democracy central government has always laughed at her beloved's statements; content with the Asari position of most advanced and most powerful race in the galaxy. Yet with the First Contact War the humans with a single swift move have kicked down the Asari Republics out of their pedestal, claiming both tittles in an instant.

The arrival of the Humans and the return of the Rachni was a massive splash of ice cold water in the face of the Republics, the Matriarchs were concerned and everyone wanted to prepare for whatever came, be it a terrible war or a long, long period of uncertain peace. Benezia couldn't say which one was worse.

Her gaze switched quickly from her daughter Liara and a human teenager near the observation glass window that should have been around fifteen of sixteen years old according to the biological codex. She was about the same height than her daughter and if she didn't know better, someone could say the two of them were the same age. The humans had lifespans far shorter than those of the Asari but far longer than those of the Salarians and about a similar lifespan to that of the Turians.

They were incredible resourceful and that was something, perhaps her people could learn something of them.

She looked back at her little one and she thought of an idea. "Liara how about we go to the Museum and learn about human history? There may be some records about their discoveries regarding the protheans" her daughter smiled in response; and so did the Lilim ASB operative in a dark corner of the platform watching them.

-.

**Several minutes later**

**Coeus Pylon, Terran Natural History Museum**

The ride from the Inner Ring to the Outer Ring Cardinal Pylon had been uneventful; fortunately their escorts have provided her with the means to rent a vehicle. Liara was fascinated by the view; the superstructure of the station could only be compared to that of the Citadel or Omega.

A Terran escort group and her Asari commando guard team waited her near the parking place, close enough to be noticed and being reached out yet far enough not to disturb them, both groups were professionals and carry themselves well.

While the Alliance have opened itself to the rest of the Galaxy including the Citadel Races, there was no trust enough yet to allow aliens to move freely through their beloved capital station; more so when they were important political figures of foreign governments.

The museum was a beautiful building; the roof was formed by an elongated shell as if it was a fabric camping tent caught in the wind and frozen solid; more than anything it was a shape focused on the aesthetics and construction of interior spaces with light entrances and good views, because the buildings of the pylon city had nothing to fear of the wind and rain, as the Station had none of those.

For Benezia and her little wing it reminded them to the Temple of Athame, a cathedral without a god the human guides have described it, a fitting tittle.

In front of the building arranged in neat straight lines were tall trees with marvelous pink leaves coming an island known as Japan in the human homeworld of Earth, Liara was fascinated by the sight.

-.

After crossing the threshold and arriving the museum lobby the two of them were received by a hologram depicting a human male in a black business suit; an ancient version of the one used by the terrans in modern standards. The face reminded Benezia of that young senator Jack Wynand at the Terran Parliament.

"Good afternoon" the hologram began. "I am the holo-avatar of Jack Ryan fourth Prime Minister of the Rapturian Objectivistic Republic and most important original architect of Terran Systems Alliance. It was during his government that the Prothean ruins in Mars were discovered cementing the first step in humanity's ascension towards interstellar colonization" the hologram explained.

The quality was much better and the manners were more fluid but for Benezia the hologram reminded her of Avina, the equal parts informative and sometimes insufferable information VI of the Citadel; like a very pesky and forgettable tourist guide. But she felt a cold shiver down her spine when she remembered that humans had an extended use of AIs.

"Excuse me…" she stuttered. "Are you an AI?" she asked.

"An AI?" The hologram smiled. "No ma'am, a completely developed Terran AI fully self-aware is a composed of a complete source code and a quantum processor. I am a Database Interactive Software; DIS for short, or a VI in Citadel terms, and so are the rest of the holographic avatars in the museum" the hologram explained.

Benezia breathed a sigh of relief; it was no different from Avina it seemed.

"If you wish I can upload a guide and brochure to your omni-tool" the hologram suggested.

"Yes, please do it, thank you" she answered, still unsure of how to talk with the synthetic being.

-.

The first stop in the trail was the ancient human civilizations exhibition; beginning with the Sumerians, Egyptians and Babylonians to the Greeks and Romans.

The Egyptians with their giant pyramids and artistic representations, their drawings in the walls for example reminded Matriarch Benezia to the ancient Asari; only that the ancient Asari were at least 45000 years old, these ancient societies of the human race have existed only 6000 years ago.

There were even relics of that ancient time preserved inside glass containers in the museum; a golden mask, a bronze dagger and even a piece of pottery with beautiful faience along the circumference. The humans were fortunate; very few relics have survived from the first Asari or Turian civilizations.

A holographic VI was also present in the exhibition; a human male with tanned skin, using a strange crown wearing a tribal like outfit that left his muscular chest exposed for all to see and a curved blade on his side. "Hello I am Pharaoh Ramses III, I speak in the name of the ancient and noble Egyptians; what do you wish to know?"

History and myths were interesting, especially regarding the story and legend of the Jewish Exodus or the battles against the other neighboring nations like the Persians or Assyrians.

The Greek exhibition was even more interesting, a magnificent statue of rusted green bronze stood in the center of the room with a massive model of the ancient city of Athens.

"Greetings, I am Homer, the poet" said one hologram, a male with a white bear who told them the brief version of the Iliad and the Odyssey; it was fascinating to see how mythology and history mixed together in the culture of this particular society.

The Pantheon of Greek Gods was similar to the ancient believes of the Asari before the religion of Athame was consolidated as the central faith of Thessia and by effect the rest of Asari Space.

Benezia was shocked to see what it seemed like a representation of an Asari amongst the relics, a piece of pottery depicting the painting of an Asari like creature, a shudder went through Benezia' spine as the portrait was not unlike that of a popular representation of one of the greatest shames of the Asari an Ardak-Yakshi. The hologram answered her questions; the creature depicted in the pottery painting was a mythological beast known as the Gorgon or the Medusa that had snakes for hair growing on her head, and that it was capable of turning people into stone just by directly looking at them.

There was something peculiar within these very interesting parallels between some Asari mythologies and Human myths, perhaps the similarities on DNA also transferred to the culture and mindset, something to discuss with the xeno-anthropologists of Thessia.

"Good afternoon, I am Alexander III of Macedon commonly known as Alexander the Great; king, general and conqueror of the Persian Empire" another hologram spoke when Benezia and her daughter approached; Benezia smirked when Liara blushed at the sight of the hologram. She had to admit, some of the human males specially the young ones in good physical shape were very attractive, although she preferred the females, who were nearly morphologically identical to the Asari.

This Alexander the Great was specially handsome, with brown near golden fur growing on his head, a clean shaven chin, and a magnificent armor that to the interest of Benezia had a depiction of the snake haired creature known as Medusa near the neck.

The history told by the hologram was even more interesting: holo representations of ancient battles showing the Greek phalanx formation against the numerically superior Persians.

A thundering charge of the cavalry on the enemy's flank ending the battle; it was amazing the symbiotic relation the humans have achieved with their domesticated beasts: horses, dogs, cats or falcons; just like the krogans had with the varrens and other creatures of Tuchanka.

-.

Directly next to the Greek Exposition was the Roman Exhibit, that to Benezia' surprise was filled with many Turians who have become interested in the history of this particular human society. Not a surprise, the Turians valued imperialistic values and the will to create a strong culture; a set of roman armor including shield, spear and short sword was in display near the entrance; it was an intimidating sight to any primitive soul.

"Greetings, I am Caius Julius Caesar Consul of the Roman Empire" a hologram presented himself. The history of the roman conquest of Gaul and other provinces was interesting, but this culture in particular unlike that of the Egyptians and Greeks seemed more evolved in their engineering and cultural achievements, building infrastructure and buildings not to please the gods or a dead king but to improve the quality of life for their people.

"The Roman Legions were one of the best organized armies of antiquity; cohorts directed by centurion officers who lead the battle from the frontline, leading by example as any true leader should" the hologram stated, a couple of Turians nodded in agreement.

-.

The next exhibitions were equally interesting as were the holograms representing the critical figures of each time period.

"Qin Shi Huang; first emperor of China; I am honored to meet you"

"You can call me Ragnar Lodbrok, Viking warlord and legendary Danish and Swedish king"

"I am Genghis Khan, founder of the largest empire in human history"

"Marco Polo, explorer"

"My name is Leonardo Da Vinci, artist and inventor during the renaissance"

"Christopher Columbus Italian explorer and navigator; who discovered the route to the still uncharted continent of America"

"Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at your service"

"Chieftain Zhaka Zulu of the tribes of West Africa"

"George Washington, first president of the United States of America"

"Catalina the Great, Czarina of Russia"

"Queen Victoria of the British Empire"

Several hours have passed traversing the Museum, as Benezia and her daughter took a moment of rest in the building's cafeteria; most of the tables' occupants were aliens, the humans have foresaw that many visitors would come to the Museum and have granted privilege to the alien guests.

There were even many Turians and Quarians eating dextro food. Benezia's omni tool had a chemical scanner and she took caution when eating or drinking anything there; more so having her only daughter's life in the line.

She found nothing troubling in her warm coffee neither in Liara's ice cream, still she felt a little unnerved as the warm liquid went through her throat; with a little sugar and cream the beverage was delicious.

"I have to admit, these humans know war" one Turian on the next table declared taking a chunk of his roasted morganic eel. "No wonder how they were able to hold on in Shanxi with such fervor against our forces; they have a history of beating even through insurmountable odds, like on that battle of Vienna nearly five centuries ago" he made a pause.

"Could you imagine it? Outnumbered 15 to 1; the city being the last line of defense of an entire continent"

"Yes until the unexpected arrival of those Poland horsemen; no wonder the humans adopted the expression cavalry has arrived when they receive reinforcements. Also there might have been completely useless but those fake wings on the backs of the cavalry men made for a fearsome sight" added the female Turian, most likely the other's girlfriend or close partner.

"Still I was more interested in the Battle of Thermopiles; that was one of a kind last stand against a superior force"

_Turians, they have more in common with the krogans that either race would like to admit;_ Benezia thought.

Another Turian joined with the pair at the table; he also seemed interested in the history of the human race, in particular the history of their wars.

"Have you seen the exhibition regarding World War II? These humans have done some terrible things to each other"

Benezia shuddered for a second, the display telling about the largest conflict on human history have shown some truly terrible acts, like the first launch of an atomic bomb and the holocaust committed by these Nazis or so.

She was amazed and disturbed by the ignorance of those ultra-nationalists calling themselves the superior race, seeking racial purity and attempting to eradicate 'the lesser races'. Yet to be fair, at that time period humans didn't know about genetics and the need for genetic diversity; if they had been half as enlightened as they claimed to be, they should have discovered that ensuring constant inbreeding was condemning your race to genetic degradation.

The Asari knew about that better than anyone in the space faring peoples of the galaxy, in the ancient times at Thessia, the City State of Armali achieved supremacy over the others by promoting meshing and integration between different tribes and casts. In other words doing the opposite of what other city states did; which advocated a nearly dogmatic belief at each group's purity.

The results were clear to all: diseases, birth defects, malformations and above all the presence of a genetic anomaly that brought nothing other than pain and death.

Once Armali and its commonwealth of allied states took over Thessia they launched a campaign of eradication of anomalous beings and many pure blood groups.

The blood in Benezia's veins felt cold when looking at her daughter, Liara was a pure blood. Decades ago when Benezia discovered she was pregnant she received a lot of pressure from her family to abort, giving the odds of her child being born an Ardak-Yakshi and even if not; life was not easy for pure blood individuals. Every time she and Liara went out, she could see the judging gazes of her peers and even of the other young Asari, alongside some hurtful comments; perhaps that was the reason why Liara was mostly a lonely child with few friends, Liara had unconsciously seek solace by studying alone.

The Turians continued their conversation about their new found fascination for human history. "Speaking of battles and this World War II, have you seen the documentary regarding the Battle of Leyte Gulf; apparently the largest naval battle in their history before their discovery of FTL capabilities" he explained.

"For what I heard, much of the strategies employed by the Terran Alliance Navy were based on the engagements and tactics of that conflict, including those used by The Butcher of Haliat"

"Say what you want about that Admiral Comstock, have you seen the reports her strategy was perfect apparently; and her casualties were minimal" the female Turian said.

"Ha, whatever; that woman would never match to a true Turian fleet in an even battle" the third Turian said, drawing some hostile looks from a few humans. "She took them by surprise and overwhelmed the fleet with tricks"

"Still their tactics and technology give them many options outside normal strategic doctrines" the first Turian said. "A few of the best Turian Generals and Admirals achieved victory by adapting their tactics and improvising" he declared.

"Nothing good comes from doing things out of standard doctrines" the stubborn Turian said. "You put your men and yourselves in danger by doing so" he added.

"That human Admiral, Elizabeth Comstock did well by performing tactics out of normal strategy"

"If you allow me, gentlemen" a dark haired human female interrupted them; walking next to their table, she was wearing the Alliance Navy uniform; and her mischievous smile seemed to carry no hostility merely professional curiosity.

"I served for a year in Admiral Comstock's flagship the Tesla" she began smiling. "And believe it or not she plays by the book" the Terran officer declared.

"Not surprising in the end" she added. "Considering that she wrote half the book" she stated, with a smirk before turning around and leaving the three Turians baffled.

Benezia smiled at the exchange, it was true the Alliance had its own set of rules of engagement and strategies; and the war with the Turians had been their first, having ended in a stalemate for Turian propaganda and a victory in Terran's.

She was also surprised by the boldness of the human officer; barging into the conversation of her former enemies and speaking in such plainly and even friendly manner; she eyed the woman carefully, her blue uniform was neatly trimmed while the chevrons in her shoulder and neck classified her as an ensign perhaps. The name plate was on the left side of her chest on top of a generous bosom, she had a nice body. Benezia's eyes containing augmented reality contact lens translated the letters and writing: Hannah Sheppard; beneath was the ship's name: SSV Nightingale.

"Mother can we go to the next exhibition now?" Liara asked interrupting her mother's thoughts. "It shows the unification of the human species and the discovery of the Prothean ruins" Liara beamed with excitement.

"Very well my dear; let's go" Benezia answered, as she stood up and paid the food with a command of her omni tool.

-.

"Greetings and welcome to the Rapturian and pre unification exhibit I am Professor Nikola Tesla" the exhibit's main hologram received them. "Inventor, scientist and founder of the Helios Project; the predecessor of the Rapture project; yet above all" the hologram made a short pause perhaps for dramatic effect. "Co-inventor of the first Trans dimensional Rift Portal" he explained.

That last topic in particular called the attention of Benezia who smiled at that statement. So this was one of the main geniuses behind the human rift gate technology… She remembered that the flagship of the Butcher of Halliat was called Tesla in honor of this man.

History regarding the Helios project and later the Rapture Initiative was something else; the fact that a cabal of scientists secluded in the middle of a frozen wasteland within their world could create such incredible feats of engineering was breath taking. There wasn't any concrete regarding the rift gates' inner workings and those of the Neutron-antimatter generators, but there were a few interesting facts about all.

The Rapturian exhibit or the unveiled history of the Rapturian Objectivistic Republic was small in comparison to the rest of the displays, but rich in content.

"Welcome, I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No,' says the man in Washington, 'it belongs to the poor.' 'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'it belongs to God.' 'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'it belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose…" he made a pause. "Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well" a new hologram declared on the entrance.

-.

Finally they reached the final part of the museum and 'caught up' with the group of Quarian visitors; it was the largest room and richest display telling everything from the discovery of the Prothean ruins and the decoding of the records alongside the mass effect technology and the first colonization efforts.

Benezia was surprised by the systematic change in humanity's behavior and historical development. Through a combination of factors and good luck or perhaps a very carefully designed plan of social and cultural revolution the human race have steadily united and secured a place amongst the space faring species of the galaxy.

What was more puzzling however was the succession of sudden chances in the different societies on Earth and later their colonies. From being a species almost destined to destroy itself like the krogans be it through nuclear war or environmental collapse the humans had sustained more than a century of peace.

Unlike the Turians or the Salarians whose colonies had fought each other during the early stages of their stellar colonization. The Unification Wars were still debated and study within Turian history classes, while the Salarian feudalism in their first colonies have promoted war between each clan and settlement for centuries before first contact with the Asari

Yet the Humans which had a much more extended genetic diversity than that of the other races and perhaps more important a richer collection of distinct societies and cultures were unified from the start. Or maybe they would have gone to war between each other if not for the first contact with the Quarians and Rachni; the presence of an outer threat the Citadel and its races as well as the fate of the Prothean Empire had served as a catalyst for the consolidation of the Terran Alliance as the unified front of the people of Earth.

-.

**A week later**

**QFV Dromus; Quarian research ship**

**Orbit of Morgan 04**

"Biological studies have confirmed our best hopes" one Quarian scientist explained. "This planet is a remarkable candidate for our people's settlement" he made a pause.

"That said, it is far from perfect; the most biologically rich areas of the continents containing forests, jungles and lakes are beaming with life, rich ecosystems that unfortunately are also very rich in bacteria and allergenic agents. Our immune systems will require decades of genetic adaptation before they are strong enough to allow us to live without our suits and on the stable temperature locations of the planet".

"I recommend we begin colonization at the arid plains on the largest continent" the scientist finished. "We can build contained self-sufficient settlements there and through genetic engineering slowly reconstitute our immune systems".

"Thank you Doctor Yileg" Captain Loreh stated from his seat looking at the hologram of the researcher at the surface of Morgan 04, before looking at his side towards his second in command.

"So what do you think Captain?" his first officer Lerah asked.

Commander Lerah'Traen vas Dromus was the daughter of one of the pilgrims that have made first contact with the Humans decades ago; growing up hearing stories about the encounter in Kaldir; that was one of the reasons she requested her captain to volunteer their ship for the survey mission of the main colonization candidate planet offered by the Alliance.

"The planet is beautiful and rich in both life and resources" he began. "It would make a magnificent new beginning for our people; still there is much to take into account that make me hesitant of giving my full approval to the Conclave and Admiral Board" he explained.

"About the planet?" Lerah asked.

"About the humans" he answered; drawing a puzzle look from his 2IC. "I am still not sure if we can fully trust them"

"But they have been nothing but helpful; they want to have us as allies and friends" she declared.

"Maybe, I don't doubt their good intentions and my instinct tells me those captains, admirals and politicians I have already met are honorable and honest" he released a sight. "But moving our population into this system would put the fate of our entire species on their hands; this system has no mass relay connection, if they wish so they can leave us completely isolated from the rest of the galaxy" the captain stated.

"We are already isolated from the rest of the galaxy" Commander Traen declared. "We have no home other than our ships, no allies other than ourselves, no future other than that the one we build for ourselves. With the humans' help we can start anew, at least in this system we can have a planet to call home and a place to raise our children without the restrains of an enclosed space" she finished.

"Perhaps you are right" he smiled even though his face was not visible through the face plate. "I have spoken to the other captains or the survey squadron, they all agreed that this planet is near perfect and they cannot wait to disembark. Most of the conclave is eager to take the Terran offer and start colonization on the systems granted, also my own son cannot wait to take his pilgrimage in the Terran capital; the Erebus Nexus".

"So is my daughter Junal though she is barely a child, she is asking me and her father to visit the station again" she said.

"I don't know which one is harder, being a captain or being a parent" he joked.

His first officer released a short laugh. "Neither is easy, at least Captains get training, yet nothing can prepare you for being a parent" she declared.

"True" the captain answered before adopting a deadly serious expression. "I will send my report to the conclave in an hour; if everything goes well, we will begin settlement within a few days" he finished, before rising from his seat and looking at the hologram of the green and blue planet.

"I have never felt the grass or the sand beneath my feet; I cannot wait to do so" Lerah joined him at the side.

-.

**2155.10.12**

**Alliance News Network**

"Ryan-Fontaine Industries CEO, Joseph Ryan made a controversial statement this morning about his company's new internship program" Trisha Kazann the most famous news anchor on human space spoke, informing the latest news.

"For the very first time, Quarians engineers and scientists will be admitted into a Terran corporation. Many see it as the first step towards an alliance with the nomadic aliens as well a sign of the Alliance opening itself to the rest of the galaxy; yet many view the program with suspicions openly claiming that the Terran Government is selling human technologies and secrets to desperate races in exchange for cheap labor and cannon fodder".

"Joseph Ryan had this to say" the view switched towards the recording of the CEO's speech:

"The strength of the Alliance relies not only in its military and government, but on its industrial complex, its economy and above all its people; we are the engine that keeps the wheels of progress turning. Despite that I have seen that many within social network look at me and my company with disdain, painting me in a cartoonish way as the stereotype of the greedy and selfish businessman that live surrounded by wealth while others dwell in poverty"

"I know that for many, life has been unfair, but blaming the system is not the best answer, only the easy one. Capitalism like democracy is not perfect, yet they might be the only systems we have that at least give every individual the chance to decide one owns fate. For each of us to claim a path forward through their intellect, strength and will; one thing remains certain we cannot do it alone"

"With the opening of Earth and her colonies to the entire galaxy; we found ourselves on a crossroad where we must do our best to achieve progress through cooperation rather than through confrontation, as long we have the chance to choose"

"Through the ancient human belief that 'actions speak louder than words' we have extended a hand not only to the Quarians or to the Rachni but to every species on this universe. With that said let me make one thing clear, just as we do not seek aggression but we will answer in turn; we expect the other space faring nations to judge us by our actions and our endeavors"

"While we have granted the Quarians our trust and our aid, it is up to them just its up to the Turians, Asari, Salarians and the rest of the Citadel to earn our respect and perhaps even our friendship and admiration"

"In conclusion, Ryan-Fontaine is proud to open its doors to the Quarian engineers eager to learn and work alongside humans, rachni and synths; and build a promising future for all of us; may they earn and carry with pride the tittle of **Terran**"

"As expected Joseph Ryan's speech made a huge impact in social media; billions of comments have flooded every social media platform in the Waypoint net; surprisingly the great majority of them are supportive of the CEO's statements. With the sentence 'Joseph Ryan is an example of true human exceptionalism' becoming trending topic through the net"

"An opinion poll in the net has resulted in remarkable support for the Quarian aid initiative in major sectors of Alliance; more so in the core worlds"

"Also new diplomatic and commercial agreements have been announced already: the Elkoss Combine one of the most important Volus manufacturers' cartels has been spear heading many trade operations between the Citadel industrial conglomerate and major human corporations"

"Speakers of the Tenembaum Foundation for example, the main producer of Bio Medi Gel in the Alliance economy have revealed their intentions to work with the Hanar Illuminated Primacy to develop an effective treatment for the leading cause of death of the Drell population on the planet Kahje a disease known as Kepral's Syndrome"

-.

**2155.10.12**

**Citadel Council Inner Sanctum**

**Widow Nebula**

An undisclosed and completely isolated area of the Citadel Tower was used for the most secretive issues under the Council's oversight; mostly Spectres' debriefing of incredibly 'delicate operations' those that could start wars or end them before they even begin.

The three councilors, considered by many as the most powerful and influential individuals on the galaxy were now uncertain of their position. The Terran reveal have shaken every area of Citadel society from the economy to the underworld; the integration of the Quarians in particular was a troubling issue. While it was a relief that the Quarians had finally a new world, Tevos and Prateus shuddered at the thought of the Migrant Fleet refitted with Terran technology firing on their fleets. While Eshael had the entire assembly of Dalatrasses breathing on his neck telling her about their nightmares; with the krogans and Rachni together laying waste to Sur'Kesh.

"Do you know why you are here?" Tevos began asking the three Spectres assembled in front of them; it was fitting that they were an Asari, a Turian and a Salarian.

"I am guessing it is about the talks between the humans and the suit rats" Tela Vassir stated. "You want us to discretely disrupt those talks" she added.

"No" Councilor Eshael answered. "The Human intelligence service this ASB has been remarkably adept at unveiling and countering STG attempts to survey and analyze Alliance technology and comm network" she finished.

"The risk is just too great" Prateus explained. "For now we need you to go after another enemy" the three Spectres exchanged gazes.

"We are assembling an elite task force to go after the Terminus Black fleet" Tevos explained. "They have increased their attacks and raids in our border after the armistice with the Alliance"

"Our…" the words in the Turian Councilor's mandibles made him felt as if he was in pain. "Defeat at the hands of the Alliance has emboldened them or maybe the humans are supporting them" he added.

"We need to even up the odds against both the Terrans and the Terminus Systems" Tevos stated. "The Black Fleet has incredibly advanced technology perhaps enough to move the balance in our favor" she explained.

"This Tiamat Magnetic-Hydrodynamic Weapon is similar to that used by the Terran heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts" Eshael explained, showing the holographic comparison of two battles one against the Alliance and another against the Black Fleet; both in opposite corners of the galaxy and both against completely different enemies but both equally resulting in defeats for Citadel forces, she explained. "Capturing and reverse-engineering it would certainly improve our combat capabilities".

"Welcome to Operation Demon hunter" Tevos finally stated.

-.

**CODEX:**

**Morgan 04 – Planet survey report (later dubbed New Rannoch):** Morgan 04 named after the system's discoverer, Captain Morgan Yun of the SSV Tsushima in the Meridian-Alpha system, is a medium size world with a dextro based ecology and a complex environment rich in diversity; a little smaller than Earth it has a similar gravitational force. Unlike Earth however Morgan 04 has three moons none of them larger than Luna but their gravitational forces have resulted in an eclectic cycle of seasons on the hemispheres; as well as a wild an nearly unpredictable cycle of tides across its oceans; the result is an ecosystem filled with highly adaptive live forms which are capable of living and transitioning to different environments constantly.

While the planet was never considered a possible prospect for human colonization because of its ecosystem incompatible with human life (dextro toxicity), the unique collection of live forms on it made it a significant place of xeno biological research for both individual scientists and major pharmaceutical corporations, like the Tenembaum Foundation or Suchong Laboratories.

Before the First Contact War several native plants and animals were caught, studied and later genetically altered and replicated for different purposes. The Morganic purple Eel for instance was used in many facilities for the purpose of purifying drainage water, given its capability to absorb and process toxins. In an interesting turn of fate the stock of Morganic eels in the city of Quinhai at Shanxi served as food for the captured Turian prisoners; and even became a delicacy to the Turians in Citadel Space, and one of the main exports of the planet.

Colonization's right of the entire Meridian-Alpha System have been granted to the Quarian Migrant Fleet by the Terran Alliance; the planet was later renamed New Rannoch in the name of the Quarian homeworld.

-.

**ANWERS TO CRITICS AND QUESTIONS:**

**-The Alliance being OP and its culture:**

My Terran Alliance is neither perfect nor invincible; they are a mix of technological and cultural elements from both mass effect and bioshock, with a heavy emphasis on the preservation and progress of humanity not through the dominion of other races but rather the cooperation and improvement of the individual and collective.

As my favorite Spartan, the great Kratos wisely said once: "We win because we are determined, disciplined not because we believe ourselves superior"

Also the society of the Alliance with a mostly atheist culture and a western type capitalism economy are greatly derived from my version of this story's Rapture: There are still Christians, Muslims, Jewish, Buddhists and all, and a mix between many cultures within the colonies, but decades of space colonization with many peoples living together as well as heavy social engineering by the government have resulted in this type of macro culture.

The Alliance as an emerging power has to make use of its resources in the most efficient way possible, and there is perhaps no greater resource than its citizens. Having a capable, determined and well instructed workforce alongside a brilliant leadership in the political, scientific, economic and military echelons is vital to any successful state. And the Alliance does not have to deal with the fate of a nation but rather the future of mankind.

Under the threat of an external alien invasion is that humanity has more or less banded together in purpose, while old beliefs have been replaced by new ones like the sanctity of Earth and the knowledge inherited by the protheans.

In this chapter we will start seeing some of the political deals and pacts of the Alliance with both its tentative allies and possible enemies.

-.

**-Population numbers:**

Many complained about the population sizes in the Alliance and its worlds; about how it should have been a far larger number given the decades that have passed since the last census and the numbers of planets.

First of all the exponential growth of Earth's population during the nineteenth and twentieth century was a result of several factors: People moving to the cities, industrialization, hygiene and health improvements, vaccines and the construction of new infrastructure like sewers and electric lighting or gas heating; many of these factors didn't increase the birth rate but rather reduce the mortality rate.

The colonization programs of the Alliance have resulted in a population of about 23 billion by the year 2155, which is generous considering that in the cannon mass effect universe the whole of humanity was only composed of 11 billion; almost all of them in Earth, with planets like Terra nova or Eden Prime having populations of less than 10 million each. In my version there are colonies with populations numbers in the billions like Chiron or Shinnon; hundreds of millions like Praxis; others with tens of millions like Arcadia and Eden Prime, and finally many with only hundreds of thousands as they are planets with no sustainable environment or in different stages of terraformation,.

It is the case that each colony world has its own population growth; those that are major urban and industrial centers have tremendous demographic growth rates, but those that only have dome colonies and are only mining settlements and outpost have restrictions both by necessity and by imposed conditions regarding multiple births. No population should grow more than the capability of its home and society to sustain them, otherwise social and economic problems are sure to sprout from every corner.

-.

**Well that's it; I know this chapter felt like a filler to many more so after such a long time since the last update; but sometimes writing does not come easy. With luck I will be able to finish the next chapter within a week or two at most.**


End file.
